‘China building new dam in Tibet near Indian border’

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated24/01/2023

New Satellite images revealed by a geospatial intelligence researcher at Intel Lab shows China constructing a dam on the Mabja Zangbo river in Tibet, close to the tri-junction.
The images show the activity since May 2021 in the Burang county of Tibet that shares its border with Nepal.
The dam is around 16 km north of the tri-junction and is opposite the Kalapani area of Uttarakhand.
The Mabja Zangbo originates in the Nagari county of Tibet, flows through Nepal into the Ghaghara river before joining the Ganga in India.

This development could be a matter of concern to India and Nepal as China could use this dam to divert and store water
It could lead to a scarcity in the regions dependent on the Mabja Zangbo river and also lead to lower water levels in rivers such as the Ghaghara and the Karnali in Nepal.
Dams close to the border could be used by China to strengthen its claim on the disputed areas in the region.
2021: China announced the construction of a massive dam on Yarlung Zangbo to generate up to 70 GW of power, three times that of three Gorges dam, which is the world’s largest hydropower plant in terms of installed capacity.
The Yarlung Zangbo, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet, originates in the Himalayas in Tibet, enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, passes through Assam and then Bangladesh, before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

In addition to using water as leverage, the possibility of a military establishment by China near the tri-junction cannot be ruled out as the country had developed the same in the Yarlung Zangbo river near Arunachal Pradesh.
China has also built dozens of villages in uninhabited stretches of the Line of Actual Control which the experts say is Beijing’s aim to claim the territory along the disputed boundary.