Saibal Dasgupta
The Times of India
May 20, 2013
India and China are expected to skirt the issue of a riparian agreement to manage the flow of river water in India from the sensitive Tibetan region, informed sources said on Sunday. Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s talks with premier Li Keqiang, who is heading the first high-level visit to India since the leadership changes in China, is likely to cover a range of concerns but avoid specific commitment on the water issue, sources said.
China is determined to prevent any international dialogue over Tibetan rivers, Yellow and Yangtze, because these are its biggest sources of water. The issue makes the Dalai Lama’s political movement a much bigger challenge for Chinese leaders than one of merely religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhists or human rights.
Beijing is disinclined to any river agreement with even one of its eight neighbours which receive water flows from Tibet either directly or through tributaries as this would be tantamount to opening the restive Tibetan region for discussions.
Tibetan glaciers and lakes feed four rivers flowing into eight neighboring countries including Brahmaputra in India and Bangladesh. These also produce the Mekong flowing into Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Also, Salween goes to Myanmar and Thailand, and Irrawaddy in Myanmar.
Beijing prefers to retain full control of the situation instead of allowing neighboring countries, five of which are Buddhist majority, to show an interest in the region.
India, too, isn’t asking for a river agreement because it understands China’s compulsions, and the futility of demanding something that Chinese leaders do not wish to discuss, sources said. New Delhi has made it clear that it would be happy to obtain an assurance that China would not build major dams on upstream Brahmaputra that can expose the Northeast to both water scarcity and dangers of future floods.
China insists it is merely building small dams on the water run-off instead of blocking the main flow of the river. But Beijing is yet to make the friendly gesture of withdrawing its dam projects from the mouth of Brahmaputra. Li’s visit is unlikely to see an improvement on China’s stance on the river issue.
