China’s decision to begin construction on what is poised to become the world’s largest hydropower dam in the ecologically fragile Yarlung Tsangpo canyon is not merely an engineering feat ~ it is a geopolitical gamble that India and its neighbours can ill afford to ignore. While Beijing presents the Motuo Hydropower Project as a triumph of clean energy and regional development, the implications downstream are anything but benign. At the heart of the concern lies geography.

The Yarlung Tsangpo, after carving a dramatic U-turn around the Namcha Barwa peak, descends into India as the Siang, eventually becoming the Brahmaputra and feeding millions across Assam and Bangladesh. Any major alteration to its flow ~ through diversion, damming, or sudden water release ~ will have irreversible consequences for ecosystems, agriculture, and communities. The Chinese state’s repeated assertions that the project is ecologically sensitive and designed for........

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