Beijing admits to dam over trans-border river: India

By Li Jing

The Times of India reported Thursday that Beijing had admitted to New Delhi a hydropower project on the Yarlung Zangbo River (upstream of the Brahmaputra River in India), while Chinese analysts consider the statement to be mere speculation.

This would be the first time the Chinese government admits to the project, the report said, adding that China brought transparency to the issue between the two countries during the recent visit by Indian Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna to Beijing.

According to the newspaper, Chinese officials told Krishna that the project, located in Zhangmu, Tibet Autonomous Region, "would not involve storage of water and was a run-of-the-river project."

"Even as late as 2009, China denied that such a project was underway," it added.

The newspaper quoted Krishna as saying Wednesday, "In November 2009, the foreign ministry of China clarified that China is a responsible country and would never do anything to undermine any other country's interests."

When contacted by the Global Times, the Chinese foreign ministry refused to com-ment on the story.

Sun Shihai, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that he had never heard of the alleged admission, even though the two countries have engaged in a series of talks regarding the issue.

"The report might just be media speculation, as the issue is one of the core interests in China-India relations," Sun said. "The Chinese government has consistently expressed un-derstanding of India's concerns over the issue and vowed to strengthen dialogue."

Lan Jiangxue, vice director at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that the cooperation between China and India regarding water resources in recent years has been conducted smoothly and made some achievements.

"For instance, a landslide happened in 2005 upstream of the Pali River in China, creating a lake that threatened Indian territories downstream. Beijing provided valuable information to New Delhi regarding the matter, which received much praise from the Indian government," he explained.

Agencies contributed to this story