China is constructing a new dam on a Ganga tributary in Tibet, near the tri-junction intersection of its borders with India and Nepal, that could be used to regulate the flow of water downstream, new satellite photography has revealed.
Following China’s announcement of plans to construct a “super” dam near Tibet’s Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river, which empties into Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang and ultimately into Assam as the Brahmaputra, the development has occurred. It also occurs at a time when satellite imagery indicates that China has significantly increased the construction of communities and military and dual-use infrastructure in the eastern and western LAC.
On Thursday, Damien Symon, a geospatial intelligence researcher at the Intel Lab, released satellite photographs that demonstrated Chinese excavation and dam building activities along the Mabja Zangbo River in Burang County, Tibet, since May 2021. A reservoir, an embankment-style dam, and the blockage of the river’s course are all shown in the pictures.
The Mabja Zangbo River finally joins the Ganga in India after flowing into the Ghaghara or Karnali River in Nepal.
According to Symon, the dam lies only a few kilometers north of where China’s borders with India and Nepal all converge. The dam looks to be between 350 and 400 meters long based on the most recent satellite photos, Symon said. “The purpose is unknown as the structure is still under development,” he stated. “It looks like an embankment dam,” he continued. “There is also an airport being built nearby.”
The dam, which is situated across from the Kalapani area of Uttarakhand state and at the critical intersection of China’s borders with India and Nepal, might be used to redirect or limit the Mabja Zangbo river’s flow, according to people acquainted with the situation.
According to the residents, the dam might also be utilized to hold water, whose discharge could cause floods downstream.
Similar worries about the Brahmaputra in the northeast have been raised by China’s recent construction of a number of smaller dams on the Yarlung Zangbo river. According to a November 2020 article by Chinese official media, the proposed super dam on the Yarlung Zangbo will have significance for national security in addition to being a hydroelectric project.
Numerous satellite photos and reports have documented the construction of military and dual-use infrastructure, such as airports, missile and air defense installations, and munitions dumps, since a military confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops started in the Ladakh sector of the LAC in May 2020. In an effort to support its claim to territory along the disputed line, China has also constructed dozens of settlements in previously uninhabited areas of the LAC, according to analysts.
Although the Chinese side has stated that the two nations should continue their connections while placing the border dispute in its “proper place,” the Indian leadership has insisted that the normalization of the two countries’ overall relationship cannot occur without peace and tranquility on the LAC.
Similar to its previous work on the Yarlung Zangbo river, Sameer Patil, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), characterized the new dam as a blatant attempt by China to fortify its current infrastructure with dual-use benefits. “This will undoubtedly have an impact on India’s water security and further worsen the already strained bilateral relations, especially considering Tibet’s delicate ecology,” he stated.
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