767
Views
6
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

HYDRO-POLITICS BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA: THE ‘BRAHMA-HYPOTHESIS’ AND SECURING THE BRAHMAPUTRA

Pages 327-343 | Published online: 05 May 2021
 

Abstract

This paper argues that the incipient tensions over the Brahmaputra between India and China has become a considerable threat and cause for concern to the downstream dwellers of India's North East Region (NER), especially Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It enlarges the term ‘Brahma-hypothesis' and considers Chinese ‘hydro-hegemony' over the Brahmaputra as a ‘national security' threat to India. It also argues that apart from having the occasional Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China, India should seek to develop with China and other countries a multilateral diplomatic agreement regarding the management of the Brahmaputra River to secure India’s vital interests at national and regional levels. This is also necessary to minimise the sense of insecurity continuously growing in the minds of the people of the NER.

Notes

1 N. Ghosh, ‘China Can Not Rob Us of Brahmaputra’. The Hindu Business Line, November 27, 2017.

2 Patrick A. Ray, ‘Room for Improvement: Hydroclimatic Challenges to Poverty-Reducing Development of the Brahmaputra River Basin’. Environmental Science and Policy Vol. 54 (2015): 68.

3 Jonathan Watts, ‘Chinese Engineers Propose World’s Biggest Hydro-Electric Project in Tibet’. The Guardian, May 24, 2010.

4 Nimmi Korian, ‘An Uneven Flow? Navigating Downstream Concerns over China’s Water Policy’, in K. J. Joy et al. (Eds.), Water Conflicts in Northeast India. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018, p. 268.

5 Arupjyoti Saikia, The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019, p. 509.

6 Ghosh, China Can Not Rob Us of Brahmaputra, op. cit.

7 Nilanjan Ghosh, ‘Water Wars More About Information than Water Itself. India Must Prepare’. Daily O, October 27, 2019. https://www.dailyo.in/politics/india-china-water-dispute-water-treaties-brahmaputra-farakka-barrage-water-resources-water-management/story/1/32124.html (accessed 15 December 2019).

8 H. Zhang, ‘Sino-Indian Water Dispute: The Coming Water Wars?’. WIREs Water Vol. 3 (March/April 2016): 155–166.

9 Isabel Hilton, ‘Diverting the Brahmaputra- Much Ado About Nothing?’. CWR, February 9, 2012.

10 P. K. Ray, ‘Rivers of Conflict or Rivers of Peace: Water Sharing Between India and China’. ORF Seminar, 2014. http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/403482/rivers-ofconflict-or-riversof-peace-water-sharing-between-india-and-china/ (accessed 7 August 2018).

11 Ghosh, ‘Water Wars More About Information than Water Itself’, op. cit.

12 Zhang Hongzhou, ‘China-India: Revisiting the ‘Water Wars’ Narrative’. The Diplomate, June 30, 2015.

13 Southern Weekend, ‘Controversial Plan to Tap Tibetan Waters’. Translated by Shao Da for China.org.cn, August 8, 2006. http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/177295.htm (accessed 28 November 2018).

14 Hongzhou, op. cit.

15 Hilton, op. cit.

16 H. Zhang, op. cit., p. 159.

17 Xi Jinping, ‘Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’. Lecture delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, October 18, 2017.

18 H. Zhang, op. cit., p. 162.

19 P. Wouters and Huiping Chen, ‘China’s “Solft-Path” to Transboundary Water Cooperation Examined in the Light of Two UN Global Water Conventions – Exploring the ‘Chinese Way’. Journal of Water Law Vol. 22. Issue 6 (2013): 241; Hongzhou, op. cit.

20 H. Zhang, op. cit.

21 Mirza Z. Rahman, ‘A Speculative River: Why Communities Along Brahmaputra Need Much More Research-Backed Information’. The Scroll.in, October 18, 2018.

22 ‘Brahmaputra Dries Up Arunachal! China Responsible?’. Rediff.com, March 1, 2012. https://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-is-china-behind-drying-up-ofbrahmaputra-in-arunachal/20120301.htm (accessed 16 November 2018).

23 ‘Water Level of Brahmaputra Receded in Dhubri’. News18Assam/Northeast, December 18, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAkVjAlU218

24 ‘Saikhowat Aswabhabikbhabe Xukaise Brahmaputra: Chinot Bandh Nirman Hoise Buli Hoise Charcha’. Dainik Janambhumi, December 2, 2019.

25 W. Immerzeel, L. P. H. Van Beek and Mark F. P. Bierkens, ‘Climate Change Will Affect the Asian Water Towers’. Science Vol. 328. Issue 5984 (2010): 1382–1385.

26 ‘Water in China: Key Themes and Developments in the Water Sector’. KPMG International, 2012, https://pdfslide.net/documents/water-in-china-key-themes-and-developments-in-the-water-in-china-key-themes.html (accessed 13 January 2019).

27 W. Hussain, ‘Is China Behind the Brahmaputra Turning Black?’, The Asian Age, December 15, 2017.

28 Brahma Chellaney, Water, Peace and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.

29 Amit Ranjan, ‘China ’S Water Problems’. Asian Affairs Vol. 49. Issue 4 (2018): 646.

30 G. G. Dwivedi, ‘China’s Dam Building Spree in Tibet: Strategic Implications and India’s Options’. IDSA Comment, October 2, 2016.

31 Philip Ball, The Water Kingdom. London: The Bodley Head, 2016, p. 308.

32 Ibid., p. 308.

33 Danwu Zhang et al., ‘Statistical Interpretation of the Daily Variation of Urban Water Consumption in Beijing, China’. Hydrological Sciences Journal Vol. 59. Issue 1 (2014): 182.

34 Gouhua He et al. ‘The Water-Energy Nexus: Energy Use for Water Supply in China’. International Journal of Water Resources Development Vol. 35. Issue 4 (2019): 587.

35 Ibid., p. 587.

36 Jennifer L. Turner, Susan Chan Shifflett and Robert Batten, ‘China’s Upstream Advantage in the Great Himalayan Watershed’, in Kenneth Pomeranz et al. (Eds.), Himalayan Water Security: The Challenges for South and Southeast Asia, Asia Policy, 2013, p. 12.

37 Ball, op. cit., p. 252.

38 N. Samaranayake, S. Limaye and J. Wuthnow, ‘Water Resources Competition in the Brahmaputra Basin: China, India and Bangladesh’. CNA Analysis and Solutions, May 2016, p. 18. https://www.cna.org/cna_files/pdf/CNA-Brahmaputra-Study-2016.pdf (accessed 25 December 2017).

39 John Vidal, ‘China-India “Water Grab” Dams Put Ecology of Himalayas in Danger’. The Guardian, August 10, 2013.

40 Dwivedi, op. cit.

41 W. Hussain, ‘India-China: Securitising Water’. IPCS Look East, December 2014.

42 Ananth Krishan, ‘China Puts First Brahmaputra Dam into Operation’. India Today, November 23, 2014.

43 Ghosh, ‘Water Wars More About Information than Water Itself’, op. cit.

44 Rahman, op. cit..

45 Southern Weekend, 2006.

46 Ibid.

47 Sanjiv Baruah, ‘Upstream Superpowers, The Indian Express, December 25, 2014.

48 Chellaney, op. cit., p. 233.

49 H. Zhang, op. cit., p. 157.

51 Obja H. Borah, ‘Exploring Interactions on the Brahmaputra: Riparian Relations Between India and China’, in J. P. Saikia and P. Sonowal (Eds.), Brahmaputra. Dibrugarh: District Administration, Assam, 2017, pp. 44–59.

52 Hussain, ‘India-China: Securitising Water’, op. cit.

53 Mark Christopher, ‘Water Wars: The Brahmaputra River and Sino-Indian Relations’. CIWAG Case Studies 7, Center on Irregular Warfare & Armed Groups (CIWAG) US Naval War College, Newport, RI, 2013, p. 13.

54 Chellaney, op. cit., p. 235.

55 Hanchan Jiang et al., ‘Framing the Brahmaputra River hydropower Development: Different concerns in Riparian and International Media Reporting’. Water Policy Vol. 19 (2017): 500.

56 Grafton, R. Q. et al., Global Water: Issues and Insights. Canberra: ANU E Press, 2014, cited in Jiang et al. op. cit., p. 500.

57 Dwivedi, op. cit.

58 Ashok Swine, ‘China’s Water Diversion Is Not Responsible for Brahmaputra River Turning Black’. Outlook, December 12, 2017.

59 K. S. Valdiya, ‘Must We Have High Dams in the Geodynamically Active Himalayan Domain’. Current Science Vol. 63. Issue 6 (September, 1992): 291.

60 Hilton, op. cit.

61 Huiping Chen, Alistair Rieu-Clarke and Patricia Wouters, ‘Exploring China’s Transboundary Water Treaty Practice Through the Prism of the UN Watercourses Convention’. Water International Vol. 38. Issue 2 (2013): 217–230.

62 Government of India, ‘India-China Cooperation’. Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.

63 Yumiko Yasuda et al., ‘Multi-track Water Diplomacy: Current and Potential Future Cooperation over the Brahmaputra River Basin’. Water International Vol. 43. Issue 5 (2018): 649.

64 ‘Assam Appeals China for Sharing Brahmaputra Data’. Times of India, August 23, 2017.

65 Samaranayake, Limaye and Wuthnow, op. cit., p. 18.

66 Brahma Chellaney, ‘New Front in Asia’s Water War’. Project Syndicate, October 10, 2017.

67 Claude Arpi, ‘China’s Dams on Brahmaputra Can Be Dangerous Business’.February 7, 2013, https://www.rediff.com/news/special/chinas-dams-on-brahmaputra-can-be-dangerous-business/20130207.htm (accessed 5 April 2020).

68 ‘PM Narendra Modi Did Grave Injustice to People of Assam: Tarun Gogoi’. Economic Times, May 19, 2015.

69 P. Yeophantong, ‘River Activism, Policy Entrepreneurship and Transboundary Water Disputes in Asia’. Water International Vol. 42. Issue 2 (2017): 163–186.

70 ‘Chinese Dams Will Not Impact Flow of Brahmaputra: Krishna’, The Indian Express, 22 April, 2010.

71 ‘Joint Statement Between the India and China During Prime Minister’s Visit to China’. PIB, Government of India, Prime Minister’s Office, May 15, 2015, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=121755

72 Hussain, ‘Is China Behind the Brahmaputra Turning Black?’, op. cit.

73 Turner et al., op. cit., p. 15.

74 ‘Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Basin’. FAO, 2011. www.fao.org.nr/water/aqaustat/basins/gbm/gbm_cp_eng.pdf

75 Brahma Chellaney, ‘Averting Water Wars in Asia’. New York Times, June 6, 2007.

76 Claudia Sadoff and David Grey, ‘Cooperation on International Rivers: A Continuum for Securing and Sharing Benefits’. Water International Vol. 30. Issue 4 (2005): 420–427.

77 Douglas P. Hill, ‘Regional Integration and Its Discounts: The Case of Transboundary Water Sharing’, in Karen Stoll Farell and Sumit Ganguly (Eds.), Heading East: Security, Trade, and Environment between India and Southeast Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 205.

78 Asit K. Biswas, ‘Cooperation or Conflict in Transboundary Water Management: Case Study of South Asia’. Hydrological Sciences Journal Vol. 56. Issue 4 (2011): 664.

79 UN, ‘World Water Development Report: Water for People’. Water for Life, United Nations, 2003.

80 Hill, op. cit., p. 209.

81 Saikia, op. cit., p. 511.

82 R. E. Grumbine and M. K. Pandit, ‘Threats from Indian Himalayan Dams’. Nature Vol. 339 (4 January 2013): 37.

83 Md Saidul Islam and Md Nazrul Islam, ‘Environmentalism of the Poor: The Tipaimukh Dam, Ecological Disasters and Environmental Resistance Beyond Borders’. Bandung: Journal of the Global South Vol. 3. Issue 27 (2016): 1–16.

84 Sumit Vij, Jeroen F. Warner, Robbert Biesbroek and Annemarie Groot, ‘Non-decisions Are also Decisions: Power Interplay Between Bangladesh and India over the Brahmaputra River’. Water International 11, https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2018.1554767 (accessed 8 December 2019).

85 Venkatesh Dutta, ‘China's Brahmaputra Dam: Trans-boundary Water Governance in South Asia Needs A Rethink'. DownToEarth, December 18, 2020. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/china-s-brahmaputra-dam-trans-boundary-water-governance-in-south-asia-needs-a-rethink-74698 (accessed 10 April 2021).

86 Zhang, op. cit., p. 162.

87 Wouters and Chen, op. cit., p. 241.

88 S. Ho, ‘“Big Brother, Little Brothers”: Comparing China’s and India’s Transboundary River Policies’. Water Policy Vol. 18. Issue 1 (2014): 2.

89 MRC, ‘China Commits to Continue and Enhance Cooperation with the MRC, MRC for Sustainable Development’. November 7, 2014. http://www.mrcmekong.org/news-and-events/news/china-commits-to-continue-and-enhance-cooperation-with-the-mrc/.

90 Kelly D. Alley, ‘Governance, Connectivity, and Knowledge Transparency in the Brahmaputra Basin’, in Karen Stoll Farell and Sumit Ganguly (Eds.), Heading East: Security, Trade, and Environment between India and Southeast Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 234.

91 H. N. Thu and U. Wehn, ‘Data Sharing in International Transboundary Contexts: The Vietnamese Perspective on Data Sharing in the Lower Mekong Basin’. Journal of Hydrology Vol. 536 (2016): 351.

92 Yang Liu, ‘Transboundary Water cooperation on the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra – A Legal Analysis of Riparian State Practice’. Water International Vol. 40. Issue 2 (2015): 369; Yasuda et al., op. cit., p. 647.

93 Kishan P. Rana, ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Visit to China, May 2015’. China Report Vol. 51. Issue 4 (2015): 333.

94 S. Mittra, ‘The Future Trajectory of the Sino-Indian Water Relations’. ORF, May 2, 2018.

95 R. Chatterji et al., ‘Understanding China from India’s Northeast: Editorial Analysis of the Assam Tribune and the Arunachal Times’. ORF, March 28, 2018.

96 Wouters and Chen, op. cit., p. 242.

97 Rahman, op. cit.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bhaskar Jyoti Deka

Bhaskar Jyoti Deka is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam. He is also a Doctoral Candidate at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Email: [email protected]

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 296.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.