China and India Quarrel Over a Dam Project

Tensions between China and India over the 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) international Yarlung Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra in India) have been rekindled by Beijing's plans for dam construction. Already nervous about China's rise, India fears its northern neighbor's growing interest in making use of international rivers will add a new element to the countries' competition.

In Beijing's newly unveiled 2011-2015 energy sector blueprint, part of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan, three other hydropower bases (Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu) will be developed on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, adding to the 510-megawatt hydropower station at Zangmu currently under construction. Consistently concerned about the effect China's dam construction in the upstream Brahmaputra will have on water flow, Indian officials on Jan. 30 complained that the Indian government had not been informed of Beijing's hydropower plan.