Dharamshala, India, August 2: China’s plan to build a massive hydropower dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet has sparked alarm among Tibetan experts in exile, who warn the project could have severe environmental and geopolitical consequences for downstream nations, particularly India and Bangladesh.
The project, located in Medog, a seismically sensitive region in Tibet, is expected to surpass even the scale of the Three Gorges Dam, making it the largest of its kind. Experts argue the dam could alter the river’s natural flow, disrupt ecosystems, and increase the risk of floods or droughts across South Asia.
Dechen Palmo, a researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute under the Tibetan government-in-exile, criticized Beijing’s lack of transparency.
“This is not surprising. China has been eyeing the Brahmaputra for decades. The worrying part is we don’t know the construction details, environmental risks, or how it will impact millions downstream,” she told ANI.
Palmo said that India’s northeast, particularly Assam, relies heavily on the Brahmaputra for agriculture and freshwater, while Bangladesh depends on its downstream flow for both farming and drinking water.
“China holding that water gives it strategic control. It puts entire populations in India and Bangladesh at risk of water insecurity,” she added.
Palmo also flagged the seismic threat:
“The region has a history of landslides and earthquakes. A dam of this scale could trigger or worsen such disasters.”
She called for international pressure on China to share dam data and conduct cross-border impact assessments, as is common in shared river basin governance.
Dolma Tsering, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, echoed these concerns.
“China already has the most dams in the world. Now they’re building one even bigger than Three Gorges. And it’s in an earthquake-prone zone. That’s a ticking time bomb for all riparian nations.”
She warned that Beijing could “weaponise water” to exert political influence.
“When I say leverage, I mean China could open the floodgates during monsoon or block water during droughts. That’s not just manipulation—that’s livelihood warfare for millions of farmers across South Asia,” she said.
Tsering emphasized that her government-in-exile continues to raise the issue with Indian lawmakers.
“We’ve brought this to the Indian Parliament repeatedly. We hope New Delhi sees the long-term risk,” she said.
Both Palmo and Tsering agree: the dam is not just an infrastructure project—it’s a geopolitical tool.
Without transparency, coordination, or international oversight, they argue, South Asia could be pushed into a water security crisis controlled from across the Himalayas.