China is Weaponising Rivers

Abstract

The future will be fought on water and not on any other issues. The word has witnessed many disputes on water in the recent past but fortunately they have not crossed the critical threshold of becoming a world war. There are many bilateral or multi- lateral agreements which have the potential for water exploitation (Ashok swain, 2001). This has been seen that world has witnessed more human causalities in the past than the natural disasters and this is indicative of water as an emerging threat to the world peace (Angelakis, A.N. et al 2021). Emergence of water as a threat requires strong legal landscape across the countries (Peter Gleick, 2023). The Helsinki rules on the uses of water in not legally binding therefore, it doesn’t serve the purpose for which it was structured (International law association, 1966). The Chinese have weaponised water and building many dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, possibly the China plans to make 360 dams on slope with a gradient of 60o on the Himalayas which is very young and Fissile Mountain. Chinese government has taken a decision to lift a decade-long embargo on hydropower ‘projects in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river in Tibet.