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.
Well the subsidence from the weight of the impounded water and the dam itself would cause local earthquakes. We see this even with much smaller dams, so with a dam as large as the one proposed we are in uncharted territory.
China has had nukes since the 60’s. They’re the only country to ever conduct a nuke test with an actual missile delivery system (not just a high altitude test) as it would be used in wartime. They were testing well into the 90’s at Lop Nor.
China has definitely tested nuclear capable missiles, and they have an extremely sufficient air force to do bombardment.
I saw a map somewhere that has the sites of all the proposed hydropower plants in China...simply staggering. Just about any river flowing from the Tibetan Plateau is targeted for a dam. Makes the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation here look like pikers.
Not the first time the analogy has been used but the Chinese and Indians are like locusts.
Here is a start of plans, active and constructed sites on the Mekong systems.
This isn’t the one I was really looking for though.
The Three Gorges Dam in China caused the orbit of the earth to change by one inch.
China actually needs a war and the dictators know it. Their one child policy has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of baby girls. They now 30 million more marriageable males than females. That is a lot of testosterone to keep in check.
Well, at least the raping and plundering part.
It just gives them more daylight to build more dams.
You’re being misleading when you say its far bigger than the three gorges dam. This dam is 500 MW, the Three Gorges Dam will deliver or is alreadying deliverying 18,000 MW. 500 MW is about equivalant in output to a large coal fired plant.
China is going forward with this because they are so much more powerful than the Indians. Their economy is 5 times larger and their military technology is 20 years ahead of India. A fight between India and china at this point would be like a child fighting a grown man.
This dam has strategic implications. Once complete, China would be able to effectively shut down the bramaputra river and halt the livelihoods of around 100 million Indian peasants. Any Indian government in power could be significantly destabilized when it serve’s china’s national interests to do so. China isn’t trying to fight India. These moves are prep work to turn India into a compliant client state.
It would be foolish for you to think that Indian govt will watch helplessly when 100 million of its peasants start revolting. No democratically elected govt can ignore such a big effect. Unlike China, those 100 million farmers will vote the govt out and make the new govt fight this!
As for your comments on military capabilities, you believe too much in Chinese capabilities and underestimate India. Look up what SFF unit of Indian Army is! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Frontier_Force)
Don’t mistake our patience for weakness.
Nobody is questioning the professionalism of the Indian Military. However, what is being questioned is the economic, military, and technological strength of the Indian State. Yes, those 100 million farmers can elect in a new Government, but how exactly does the new Government force the Chinese government to turn on the spigot? Not through military threat. Certainly not through economic sanctions. How exactly does an Indian government do this? By complying with Chinese interests.
“In any event, given the terrain of the Sino-Indian border, it’d be a mostly infantry based conflict with air support allowing Indian armor to remain in the west to ward off any potential Pakistani interference. Assuming India’s air force gets involved in this hypothetical go around, I’d give them the edge in a scrap (although the Chinese are improving their training methods/equipment).”
The most important thing to keep in mind is that the Indian Air force has only a 1 to 2 week supply of critical Russian/French/Israeli spare parts and smart munitions. Meaning, it can only sustain about 1 week of a modern, high-intensity air war.
China has no such logistical issues, since it’s entire defense complex supply chain is produced in house.
Yes, India’s purchased Russian/French/Israeli weapons have a marginal advantage over Chinese domestic platforms. But since China can produce those 4th Generation aircrafts themselves instead of buying it from other countries, they have several times as many fighters.
So here in lies the source of Indian weakness. In a real air war with China, it would be numerically outmatched from the start. After just the 1st week of war, it would be both numerically and qualitatively outmatched. This means that India won’t be the one starting any fights....
“Furthermore, Chinese military technology has been thoroughly hampered by the restrictions placed on military exports to China—which has admittedly helped their indigenous defense industry. “
I have to say that for China, the Western Military embargoes were a blessing in disguise. Being forced to rely on their own capabilities has advanced Chinese military technology by about 50 years since the 80s. At this point, they are 7 to 10 years behind the U.S, 5 years behind Europe/Japan, and perhaps only 1-2 years behind Russia.
FWIW, India would never take on the Chinese.
The political elites are too limp wristed.
And, without America to watch India’s back, India is alone, squeezed between China and Pakistan.
But, for China, another kudos for a mega engineering project.
>the Chinese and Indians are like locusts.
What does that mean?
Are they stripping the leaves and flowers off the trees.
Puzzled, please clarify.
You’ve never seen or heard of a plague of locusts devour everything in their path?
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