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China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft(far bigger than Three Gorges)
Asia News ^ | 04/24/10

Posted on 04/24/2010 8:30:38 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft(several times bigger than Three Gorges)

04/24/2010 12:36

CHINA - INDIA

China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft

The dam will rise to 3,260 meters, on Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra, for Indians) using special materials and techniques. But India notes that the river is essential to the lives of millions of people and calls for assurances that Beijing does not seem to want to give. For that zone a war was fought that has never officially ended.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - China has admitted that it is building a dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River. The river originates in Tibet, but then flows into India where it is called Brahmaputra and is a major water source for millions of people. Moreover, the dam will be built in the area near the border disputed between the two countries.

China outlined the project this month, in a private meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna. The dam will be built in Zangmu at a height of 3,260 meters, in the Shannan Prefecture in Tibet and nearby four other dams will also be built in the valley between Jiacha and Sangro counties. Official sources said yesterday that the overall capacity of the dams will be "several times" more than the gigantic Three Gorges Dam. Because of its altitude, the area is often subjected to extreme weather conditions and special materials and technologies will be used, developed by the Chinese space agency. For example special cement made at the laboratories of the Xichang satellite launch Centre.

Beijing plans to draw from the Dangmu dam no less than 500 megawatts of electricity to meet the growing demand for Guangdong and Hong Kong and sell it to neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, Laos and Cambodia.

India is however very worried about the plan, fearing a decrease in the flow of the river water in India and the destruction of the Himalayas ecosystem. Above all the agriculture and industry of the north-eastern states of India depend heavily on the Brahmaputra river.

In addition, with this project China will directly control more than 90 thousand square meters of land the sovereignty of which is disputed between India and China, who fought a war that has never formally ended and who still station armed forces in the area. China responds that the dam will allow it to develop clean energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions resulting from coal fired power plants.

Experts say that, however, Beijing has not responded to Indian concerns over the decline of the Brahmaputra river. Indian sources have observed that even if the dam is located in Chinese territory, however, international law provides that the work should not diminish the course of the river. Similarly, Beijing has never responded to the concerns of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia over the Chinese dams on the Mekong River in Yunnan.

India appears on the brink of raising its concerns at an international level.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brahmaputra; china; dam; india
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Drying out Brahmaputra? This is the recipe for full-scale war.
1 posted on 04/24/2010 8:30:39 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: swarthyguy; indcons; CarrotAndStick
P!
2 posted on 04/24/2010 8:31:28 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
using special materials and techniques

From the guys who brought you bargain drywall.

3 posted on 04/24/2010 8:33:57 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Live jubtabulously!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

......a height of 3,260 meters......

Something seems lost in translation. I think they mean the river bed elevation is 3,260 meters above sea level. An 11,000 foot high dam is not credible


4 posted on 04/24/2010 8:36:45 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Ostracize Democrats. There can be no Democrat friends.)
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To: bert
An 11,000 foot high dam is not credible

Right. It is a questionable expression.

5 posted on 04/24/2010 8:38:29 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Doesn’t inspire confidence, does it?


6 posted on 04/24/2010 8:39:17 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Frickin Chinee. Should have let MacArthur nuke 'em back during Korea -- we would have been done with them.
7 posted on 04/24/2010 8:43:27 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Well to be precise.

It says “world’s highest dam”, not world’s tallest...


8 posted on 04/24/2010 8:46:18 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (2012: Repeal it all... All of it!)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

India will never let that dam be built. If they think that the Chinese are using it and drying out the water system of their people, they will bombard the construction site. They cannot afford to allow the Chinese to starve their people.

India will risk war over this.

Best,

Chris


9 posted on 04/24/2010 9:08:17 AM PDT by section9
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I guess the Chinese are waiting for environmental impact studies before they begin construction?


10 posted on 04/24/2010 9:14:25 AM PDT by j.argese (Liberal thought process = oxymoron)
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To: section9
India cannot let the dam be built ...but honestly, what could they really do about it if China said damn the torpedoes and went ahead with the construction? Would India really risk a war with China now? I am thoroughly pro-India, but I just do not see that happening. India could (and will) escalate it at the international level, but bombing the construction site ....not even the US would do that.
11 posted on 04/24/2010 9:15:56 AM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: j.argese

Chinese and environmental concern in the same breath? I think not!


12 posted on 04/24/2010 9:20:23 AM PDT by WellyP
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To: j.argese
I guess the Chinese are waiting for environmental impact studies before they begin construction?

Post of the day.

13 posted on 04/24/2010 9:21:18 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Russia killing off Polish government, China damming off a major water source for India, Commie Muslim US President (God, I never thought those words would even be uttered together-even if we got Kerry or Hillary, those words wouldn’t be in the same phrase) not even saying we wouldn’t shoot down Israeli planes if they attempt to take the supposedly non-existent-only want nuclear power plant until it’s a bomb- nuclear sites in Iran, North Korea torpedo a South Korean vessel with nary a word from the world about it...

Yeah, this is feeling like WW3.


14 posted on 04/24/2010 9:21:46 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: spetznaz

Isn’t India a nuclear nation? I know Clinton sold China nuclear secrets, but are they officially online with a delivery system yet? Of course what would it matter? Russia would pony up one for them.


15 posted on 04/24/2010 9:22:50 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: spetznaz
Tibet, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia will side with India. Tibet would actually fight with India against China.
16 posted on 04/24/2010 9:23:34 AM PDT by WellyP
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To: j.argese

Not that alarmists need any ideas but storing a large unnatural water mass at high altitude in one spot will alter Earth’s wobble, which may trigger worldwide earthquakes and climate changes. Fight Global Wobbling!


17 posted on 04/24/2010 9:35:33 AM PDT by Reeses (All is vanity)
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To: WellyP
Tibet, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia

Four cub scout troops and one boy scout troop against a division of Marines. I'll take the marines.

China could kick India's ass in week, finish up with the cousins and be back in Bejing for the NBA finals.

18 posted on 04/24/2010 10:01:18 AM PDT by Jack Black ( Whatever is left of American patriotism is now identical with counter-revolution.)
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To: Reeses

Fight Global Wobbling!

I think my new tagline just showed up!


19 posted on 04/24/2010 10:10:37 AM PDT by Scrambly
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To: Reeses

Not ony that, it will slow the earth’s rotation slightly, just like 3 gorges did.


20 posted on 04/24/2010 10:13:23 AM PDT by Pessimist
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