Public CompanyIndia to verify China stand on dam
India said the Chinese government had assured it no dam on the Brahmaputra was proposed
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Tone measured, India asserted the ‘trust but verify’ principle in relation to China when it said the Chinese government had assured it that no dam was proposed but in the light of news reports, it would “ascertain” if there was any change in China’s position.
Explaining the background, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesman said the Brahmaputra flowed for about 1625 kilometres inside the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China and for a further 918 kilometres inside India.
Keeping in mind that the river is an economic resource for the development of the local communities in the two countries, India and China agreed in November 2006 to establish an expert level mechanism to discuss trans-border river issues in an institutional way. “Three meetings have been held so far,” the sposkesman added.
During these meetings, both sides had discussed reports about the construction of a large scale dam or diversion project on the Brahmaputra. The Indian side has conveyed that such a project may have a significant impact on the socio-economic condition of people living downstream. India has also expressed the hope that China will not undertake such a large-scale project or divert the waters of the Brahmaputra.
China has categorically denied there was any plan to build any such large-scale diversion project on the river.
“We are looking into the said newspaper report to ascertain whether there are recent developments that suggest any change in the position conveyed to us by the government of China,” the MEA spokesman said.