MONAS NOVELS 2 TRUE TO LIFE – CHINA AND INDIA WATER WARS AHEAD?
September 14, 2015 / Glen Reynolds
Check out The Falling Man on Monas and Nargess engaging with India, China and Tibet, and read this coverage from “The Diplomat” in June this year.
With China’s late-2014 completion of the Zangmu dam, the largest hydropower dam on the Brahmaputra River (known in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo River), many Indian and international security experts have been warning of the coming of “water wars” between the two countries.
Those who worry about this scenario have three major arguments. First, China will face serious water shortages in the future and so will begin to divert water flow from the Brahmaputra River to its dry north. Second, this would be catastrophic for downstream countries. Third, China’s unwillingness to sign any binding agreement with downstream countries over trans-boundary rivers is evidence of Beijing’s insistence on absolute sovereignty over water, to the significant detriment of downstream countries.
While water issues could well emerge as one of the major threats to Sino-India relations given rapidly rising demand, competing water usage, and threats from climate change, the water wars narrative still seems to be premature.
China-India: Revisiting the ‘Water Wars’ Narrative The “water wars” narrative in the context of the Brahmaputra River is premature and unhelpful.By Zhang Hongzhou
The Diplomat, June 30, 2015