David Tingxuan Zhang
On July 19, Chinese Premier Li Qiang officially announced the start of construction on a long-planned hydropower project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Billed as a centerpiece of China’s clean energy drive, the dam marks a new chapter in the country’s infrastructure history – one with profound implications not only for domestic development, but also for regional stability in South Asia.
This is no ordinary project. First proposed in the 1990s and later elevated to national priority in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, the Yarlung Tsangpo hydropower station is widely seen as the country’s most ambitious hydro initiative since the Three Gorges Dam, with Li framing it as a “project of the century.”
The dam’s installed capacity will reportedly exceed 60 gigawatts – roughly triple that of the Three Gorges – generating electricity for tens of millions of homes. State media underscored its strategic importance in helping China reach its 2060 carbon neutrality target, ensure energy security in western regions, and promote high-quality development in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is also part of China’s 2035 long-term development strategy, which calls for the creation of multiple clean energy hubs along major river basins.
But the project’s magnitude also heightens its geopolitical sensitivity. The Yarlung Tsangpo, known as the Brahmaputra once it enters India, originates in Tibet and flows east before making a dramatic U-turn at the Great Bend and descending into Arunachal Pradesh – a territory claimed by both India and China. It eventually reaches Bangladesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal. The river sustains agriculture, fisheries, and livelihoods for over 130 million people downstream. That China’s newest dam is located just upstream of this bend – before the river crosses into Indian-administered territory – has renewed long-standing concerns in New Delhi about Beijing’s leverage as an upper riparian state.
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