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The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: India and China in Deep Water over Himalayan Hydropower
December 15th, 2025
Via East Asia Forum, a report on how India’s US$77 billion Brahmaputra hydropower initiative and China’s mega-dam at the Yarlung–Tsangpo Great Bend are turning the Himalayas into a digital hydropower flashpoint. Both states are tying dams to AI-enabled grids and data centres, but share no mechanism to manage the Brahmaputra. As China preserves its ‘hydrological […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: COP30 and China’s Tibetan Plateau Paradox
November 7th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how China’s stewardship of the Third Pole will shape not only Asia’s water security but the credibility of global climate cooperation. Amid the crowded headlines on the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, another transformation of considerable consequence is unfolding quietly on the roof of the world. The Tibetan […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: China’s Tibetan Mega-Dam Is Veiled in Secrecy
October 11th, 2025
Via Foreign Policy, a look at the veil of secrecy surrounding China’s Tibetan mega-dam: When Wen visited the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in the spring of 2025, the independent Chinese ecologist saw numerous heavy trucks loaded with construction materials along Medog county in the southeastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Only a single, narrow […]
Read more »China’s Himalayan Megadam Poses A Global Threat. Why No International Outrage?
September 2nd, 2025
Via Stagecraft and Statecraft, commentary on how the world ignored warnings about the Three Gorges Dam until it became an environmental nightmare. It cannot afford to repeat that mistake with China’s super-dam near the Indian border — a project whose ecological fallout will ripple globally. Last month, China officially acknowledged that it is constructing the world’s largest […]
Read more »The Strategic Ripples of China’s Mega-Dam for Bangladesh
August 7th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how for Bangladesh, far downstream yet acutely affected, the Medog Hydropower Station highlights its struggles to ensure equitable water-sharing: When Chinese Premier Li Qiang broke ground on the world’s most ambitious dam – the Medog Hydropower Station on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet – global headlines fixated on […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Super Dam – An Ecological and Geopolitical Time Bomb
August 1st, 2025
Via Stagecoach and Statecraft, commentary on how China’s super-dam is an ecological and geopolitical time bomb: China has built more dams than any other country and more large dams than the rest of the world combined. This month, it officially acknowledged construction of the biggest dam ever conceived in human history — although satellite imagery suggests the groundwork […]
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