Tibetan nomads forced to beg after being evicted from their homes
October 9, 2017
Radio Free Asia, October 6, 2017 – Tibetan nomads evicted in June from government-built housing in Qinghai’s Yulshul prefecture are now living in desolate tent settlements while their former homes are torn down to make way for Chinese development projects, local sources say.
The nomads had been forced years before from their traditional grazing areas and are now being uprooted again, a Tibetan resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“Many who had sold their herds when they were first resettled have no way to return to their former lives, and the poorest among them have now resorted to begging in the nearby township just to make ends meet,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Chinese construction workers have already arrived in the area and have started to demolish the neighborhoods that were built for nomad resettlement,” the source said.
“If the government fails to provide new housing for them, the evicted Tibetans plan to live in their tents till next year,” he said.
Other nomadic groups who still owned livestock have already moved back under government orders to the nomadic areas from which they were originally removed, sources said.
The resettlement sites now vacated outside Yulshul’s Dzatoe (in Chinese, Zeduo) county seat under a policy announced last year will be developed as housing for Chinese government workers and tourists, sources told RFA in earlier reports.
Residents of a nomad resettlement village near Domda township in Yulshul’s Tridu (Chenduo) county have meanwhile also been forced from their homes and told to return to their native regions, sources said in June.
“Now the authorities are planning to demolish the houses built for the nomads and build housing instead for new Chinese migrants and tourists in the Domda area, which is known for its natural scenic beauty and good supplies of water and electricity,” one source said.
Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
After nearly six decades of exile, Tibetans in India confront citizenship dilemma
October 9, 2017
By Vidhi Doshi
Washington Post, October 9, 2017 – When Tenzin Dechen Deshar first heard that Tibetan exiles could apply for Indian passports, she agonized over the choice.
A Tibetan born in India, Deshar lived a double life. She went to an Indian boarding school but spent summers in a refugee settlement, trying to learn to read Tibetan. She watched Bollywood movies with her Indian friends but fell asleep listening to her grandmother’s stories about a Himalayan wonderland.
Deshar spent her childhood convinced that she would someday return to the land her family had left behind when Chinese forces seized control of Tibet. Then, in September 2016, the Delhi high court ruled that Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1987 are eligible to apply for Indian passports.
The new offer of nationality presented a dilemma. Take the passport, some said, and end decades of virtual confinement to a single country. Buy a car, own a house, apply for government jobs. Others argued that giving up your statelessness was akin to betraying the Tibetan cause that three generations have fought for.
“It was not a decision I took lightly,” Deshar said, lunching on dumplings between appointments at a regional passport office in Bangalore in southern India. But the long internal conflict had led her to a realization. “My grandmother’s stories were just that — stories, like fairy tales. I’ve never even seen snow. Or a yak.”
Tibet is a mountainous, nominally semiautonomous region in China. But Tibetans consider themselves ethnically and culturally different from the Chinese.
Deshar’s grandparents were among tens of thousands who fled Tibet in 1959, after Mao Zedong’s Communist Party took control of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, massacring thousands of Tibetans. Though some eventually found homes in the West, the vast majority of Tibetan exiles, 122,000 people, live in neighboring India and have endured nearly six decades of limbo.
For years, the Tibetan movement has hung its hopes on international support for its exiles.
Heart-rending stories of Tibetans walking through icy mountain passes to reach India — their land seized, their monasteries razed, their prayers silenced — buttressed U.S. efforts to isolate China during the Cold War and have continued to rake up support on college campuses and outside Chinese embassies worldwide. “Free Tibet” long ago became a familiar cry.
But without a stateless population to field the sympathies of Western democracies, some fear the Tibetan struggle could crumble.
“What’s happened is that an entire nationality, so to speak, has given up on its nation,” said Giriraj Subramanium, a lawyer in Delhi who has argued more than a dozen Tibetans’ cases for passports in the Delhi high court. “Tibet is over” is a common refrain among his clients, he said.
An Indian government official said there is no count of how many Tibetans have made applications for passports. A spokesman from the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the organization that oversees Tibetan affairs, said only that a small number had applied.
Stateless Tibetans face a number of restrictions when traveling: They have to get exit permits and police verification in India, which often means paying bribes to authorities. At home, not having Indian nationality can complicate getting a mobile SIM card or registering a business.
In 1959, as Chinese troops consolidated power over Lhasa, the Dalai Lama, only 23 at the time, disguised himself as a soldier and fled to India. Eighty thousand Tibetans followed. India allowed him to set up an exile government in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala. In the 1980s, hoping for compromise, the Dalai Lama stopped demanding complete independence and decided instead to settle for a “middle way” seeking “genuine autonomy” for the people of the Tibetan plateau.
Many Tibetans, however, did not give up hope.
Karten Tsering, president of the residents welfare association in a Tibetan colony in New Delhi, explains Chinese control of Tibet in Buddhist terms: as part of the ever-changing nature of the universe. “Nations rise up and down — that is happening everywhere,” he said. “In our time, we’ve been born on the loser side.”
China’s economic strength means even the Dalai Lama’s dialed-down demands for autonomy are a distant dream. For Beijing, Tibet’s strategic importance eliminates any question of conceding power; a sizable proportion of China’s water reserves are on the Tibetan plateau and the region includes a long land border with India, a neighbor with which China regularly spars.
Any concessions to Tibet could draw the ire of hard-liners within China’s ruling Communist Party and rouse nationalist fervor in Mongolia and other peripheries.
Matthew Akester, an independent Tibet researcher, said the Tibetan administration’s political strategy had failed to achieve its objectives.
“People see the Dalai Lama getting the Nobel Peace Prize, being selected for the cover of Time magazine, delivering speeches to packed audiences in Western countries,” he said. “But in terms of real politics, these things are not actually meaningful. For many years, the strategy has been, ‘If we are attractive and popular enough with Western countries, they will put pressure on China.’ That hasn’t worked.”
The CTA claims to represent all Tibetans but has little contact with the vast majority in Chinese territory. Though there is opposition to China from within Tibet (for instance, the 2008 protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics), it is the exiles who have played a central role in achieving sustained international support for the Tibetan movement.
“The CTA and even the Dalai Lama to a certain extent — their relevance will only remain if there are a large number of Tibetan exiles in India,” said Subramanium, the lawyer who is representing a number of Tibetans in court. After the 2016 high court ruling, the Indian government, which is closely allied with the CTA, introduced a number of bureaucratic hurdles for Tibetan applicants, such as having to leave their settlements and forfeit refugee documents.
Tibetans who spoke to The Washington Post said they had heard messages from the CTA on the radio urging Indian-born exiles not to apply for passports. Most of the discouraging, they said, has happened through word-of-mouth campaigns. A Tibetan language circular from the CTA also urges passport applicants to “take a long-term view rather than considering short-term advantages.” Outwardly, however, the CTA has said that Tibetans are free to choose Indian nationality.
“There have been murmurs in the Tibetan community that we shouldn’t do this, that this is wrong,” said Deshar. “But if I think about it, what am I really giving up? I’m not insecure about my Tibetan identity. I don’t feel the need to preserve statelessness to preserve who I am.”
Taking Indian nationality need not mean the end of the Tibetan struggle, said Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University.
As Indian citizens, Tibetans could form a strong lobby within India’s political system. “There is this Tibetan idea that politics is all about public relations,” he said. “It could be replaced by the idea that politics is about skill and strategy and building coalitions and understanding opponents.”
Few Tibetans have been able to return to China as exiles. Becoming Indian may symbolically represent giving up hope for eventual repatriation, but in some cases it could increase Tibetans’ chances of getting visas to travel into China.
Many Tibetans remain uncertain about the nationality question. “People don’t really want to engage with the question of whether politics should be pragmatic or ideal. . . . For decades, they’ve left these kinds of decisions to lamas and political leaders,” Barnett said. “With young people, that kind of attitude still remains. It is not born out of ignorance or irresponsibility, but a fear of upsetting the system.”
Some like Lobsang Wangyal, editor of the news website Tibet Sun and founder of the Miss Tibet beauty pageant, whose landmark 2016 case won Tibetans the right to Indian passports, are thrilled. “I thought, wow, now I’m an Indian,” he said.
Many, like Tashi Topden, a musician born in India and raised in a Tibetan settlement in New Delhi, said they would not apply on principle. “My heart is Tibetan,” he said. “I want to remain Tibetan.”
Tibet issue raised in opening statements at UN Human Rights Council
October 2, 2017
Central Tibetan Administration, September 29, 2017 – Several UN member states including the US, UK, EU, Switzerland and Germany raised concerns over China’s worsening human rights situation at the recently concluded 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The delegates from the US, EU and Germany especially mentioned the grim human rights situation in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Delivering member states’ statements under ‘Item 4: General Debate on Human Rights Situation that requires the Council’s attention‘, the delegate from Germany called on China to release all detained human rights defenders including Tashi Wangchuk, and urged China to allow the High Commissioner and Special Rapporteurs to visit Tibet.
“Germany remains deeply worried about widespread human rights abuses in China, especially in Tibet, Xinjiang and neighboring regions, including infringements of the freedom of religion as witnessed in Larung Gar, ” said the German delegate.
The delegate of the US expressed its concern over lawyers and activists in China who are being arbitrarily detained, tortured and forced to confess to political charges on state media. The US delegate further stated that “condition akin to martial law have been imposed in Xinjang and some Tibetan areas.”
Similarly, the UK delegate shared its concern over restrictions to civil and political freedoms in China, and the continued detention of human rights lawyers and defenders. The delegate expressed sadness over the death of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo and urged China to lift “all limitations on his widow, Liu Xia.”
The European Union reminded China to respect “cultural diversity and freedom of religion”. EU further stressed China to ensure a fair trail for human rights defenders, including Tashi Wangchuk, and also to implement China’s foreign NGO’s law in ways that “do not hamper the development of independent civil society.”
Earlier at the opening of this session, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for human Rights, highlighted the issue of Tibet and the cases of Late Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Tashi Wangchuk in his written statement on 11 September.
China opens expressway in Tibet near border with India
October 2, 2017
Press Trust of India, October 1, 2017 – China today opened a 409-kilometre-long expressway linking Tibet’s provincial capital Lhasa with Nyingchi, which is close to the border with India in Arunachal Pradesh, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The toll-free expressway has linked the two major cities which are also tourist attractions in Tibet, it said.
The expressway that costs $5.8 billion to build cuts travel time between Lhasa and Nyingchi from eight to five hours, with a speed limit of 80 km per hour.
Most of the expressways in Tibet can be used to transport military equipment, providing an advantage for the Chinese military to move troops and hardware faster.
The massive infrastructure development in Tibet also prompted India to ramp up infrastructure development on its side.
Heavy trucks have been temporarily banned from running on the new Lhasa-Nyingchi expressway, Xinhua reported.
On 28 August, China and India agreed to end a lengthy standoff at Doklam plateau in Sikkim sector that began in June.
The tension began in June when Indian troops entered the plateau to stop China from building a new road which Delhi viewed as a serious security concern because of the access it provides to Beijing.
Doklam chill remains: India-China border meeting not held
October 2, 2017
By Rajat Pandit
Times of India, October 1, 2017 – The Indian and Chinese armies may have disengaged from their eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation on the Bhutanese territory of Doklam+ after hectic diplomatic parleys but the distinct chill between the rival troops remains on the ground over a month later.
The two armies did not hold their traditional border personnel meeting (BPM) at the five designated places along the 4,057-km long Line of Actual Control to mark China’s 68th national day on Sunday, as is the norm every year.
“The People’s Liberation Army did not send us an invite for the ceremonial meeting at the five BPM points (Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh, Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal, and Nathu La in Sikkim) on October 1,” said a source.
There has also been “no forward movement” on the 7th edition of the annual “Hand-in-Hand” exercise between the Indian Army and PLA, which was to be held in China this month. “The exercise is unlikely this year,” he added.
Sources say the two armies continue to maintain their stepped-up force levels near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction+ even weeks after the troops disengaged from the stand-off site at Doklam, concluding 73 days of tense confrontation.
The face-off had seen both the sides move forward additional infantry battalions as well as armoured (tanks), artillery, missile and air defence units in a show of strength to back their small number of troops on the actual stand-off site, as reported by TOI earlier.
“The PLA did halt construction of its motorable road through the stand-off site towards the Jampheri Ridge (physically blocked by Indian soldiers after coming down from their adjacent Doka La post on June 16) but is maintaining its force-levels in the area,” said another source.
The assessment is that the ground situation will remain the same till the crucial 19th party congress of the Chinese Communist Party from October 18, with President Xi Jinping all set to win a second five-year term to further consolidate his power.
Lithuanian MPs meet Dalai Lama, establish Tibet friendship group
September 25, 2017
The Baltic Course, September 25, 2017 – “I believe we can all help here by simple contribution, belief or establishment of a Seimas group that would be intended for friendship with Tibet. We will definitely initiate this,” conservative MP Monika Navickiene told BNS on Monday.
The meeting with the Dalai Lama, a leader who resides in India, was also attended by politicians of Latvia and Estonia. Parliaments of these countries include groups for ties with Tibet.
Tibet lost its autonomy from China in 1951 after Beijing brought its army in the territory that had declared independence.
China maintains it then liberated Tibet, however, many local residents accuse the central administration of religious and cultural oppression, often protesting in the for of self-immolation.
Meanwhile, Beijing views the Dalai Lama as separatist who seeks to separate Tibet from China. It does not recognize the Tibetan government operating in exile and does not maintain any dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s representatives.
Navickiene, the Lithuanian MP, said the Tibetan leader spoke about the potential for the situation to improve, adding that “the people of Tibet indeed need support now.”
Another participant of the meeting, Liberal Movement’s MP Arunas Gelunas, emphasized Tibet did not seek political independence from China.
“The Dalai Lama said they did not seek political independence, they do not want to be a separate state, they would do just fine with religious, linguistic and cultural freedom, which is now restricted in a cruel manner,” said the politician.
“The words the Dalai Lama said were extremely reminiscent of the feeling when the people of Lithuania were also persecuted for beliefs and language not so long ago,” he added.
Decorative street signs in the Lithuanian and Tibetan languages were unveiled in the Tibet Square in Vilnius past summer.
Lithuania views the Tibet region in the Himalaya Mountains as part of China, however, joins the call by the European Union for peaceful regulation of the relations between the Chinese administration and Tibet.
Lithuania fell in China’s disfavor after President Dalia Grybauskaite met with Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Vilnius in 2013. Negotiations with China on various issued had stalled until Beijing issued a statement in February of 2015, stating its willingness to develop good ties.
China retaliates against US university for inviting H.H. Dalai Lama to speak at graduation
September 25, 2017
Quartz, September 19, 2017 – Beijing has a lesson for overseas universities: Don’t invite speakers who oppose the Communist Party to big events.
A branch of the Chinese government has barred Chinese scholars from receiving state funding to study at the University of California, San Diego, according to people at the school. The freeze highlights how Beijing is steadily placing pressure on overseas universities to suppress viewpoints that run counter to Communist Party orthodoxy.
In June, UCSD hosted the Dalai Lama to speak at its school-wide commencement ceremony for the 2016-2017 academic year. The invitation generated controversy among some members of school’s Chinese student population. The Chinese government strictly controls information within its borders about the Dalai Lama, who it views as a separatist and a symbol of China’s feudal past. Many Chinese citizens hold these same views.
In the months preceding commencement, members of UCSD’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), a global network of Chinese students at overseas schools, met with the university’s chancellor to request that the Dalai Lama refrain from discussing politics at the speech. They also said that they informed the local Chinese embassy of the Dalai Lama’s scheduled appearance.
Now, the Chinese government has retaliated. On Sept. 16, UCSD professor Victor Shih tweeted that a colleague of his received notice that the China Scholarship Council, a branch of the government that funds overseas study for Chinese citizens, would no longer process applications to study at UCSD for scholars who had not already received a visa appointment from the US embassy.
The China Scholarship Council is a branch of China’s Ministry of Education. It typically provides scholarships for graduate students and professors at Chinese universities to travel to an overseas university as a visiting scholar. The CSC did not respond to Quartz’s email about the reported application freeze.
When asked for more details, a spokesperson for UCSD sent Quartz the following statement:
“UC San Diego has learned, unofficially, that the China Scholarship Council under the PRC Ministry of Education has apparently issued instructions that CSC-funded visiting scholars who do not yet have visas will not be allowed to study at UC San Diego. UC San Diego was not notified of this directly by the China Scholarship Council, and we are presently making inquiries to determine if this is the case.”
The application freeze does not bar undergraduates, graduate students, or other academics from attending UCSD—it merely prevents scholars from obtaining CSC funding to do so. As a result, these specific measures alone will likely do little to curb the school’s influx of Chinese students. In the fall of 2015, Chinese students made up 10.6% of UCSD’s student population and 55.7% of its international student population.
Yet the retaliatory action nevertheless shows that if universities invite speakers espousing views that the party hopes to suppress, Beijing might attempt to discourage academic exchanges with such schools. Inter-university exchanges between the US and China occur across all fields. Schools that invite controversial speakers could risk losing collaboration and funding opportunities with China.
Over the past year, various academic institutions have faced pressure to self-censor to appease either Chinese authorities or Chinese students themselves. In August, Cambridge University Press announced it had removed over 300 articles from the China-facing website for the China Quarterly, one of the leading academic publications for sinology, due to demands from the government. It later reinstated the articles due to uproar from the academic community. Meanwhile, in Australia, several professors recently found themselves shamed online and forced to apologize for making statements, some of them about international politics, that offended their Chinese students.
China holds on to Tibetan passports despite promises of return
September 25, 2017
Radio Free Asia, September 19, 2017 – Tibetan passports seized by authorities earlier this year in a bid to tighten control over travel outside China are still being held in spite of police promises that they would be quickly returned, Tibetan sources say.
The move affected hundreds of Tibetans traveling as pilgrims to India and Nepal and as tourists to other Asian countries, and came amid official concerns over Tibetans’ presence at a politically sensitive religious gathering led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in January.
“The rule was applied strictly to Tibetans who tried to attend the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra teachings in Bodhgaya, India,” a Tibetan source in China told RFA’s Tibetan Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Many of them were forced to return before the teachings started, and their passports were confiscated by authorities at airports in China,” RFA’s source said. “They have still not been given their passports back, even though they were told this would happen by March.”
“The Tibetans believe that they were deliberately tricked,” he said.
Families threatened
Kalachakra, which means Wheel of Time, is a ritual that prepares devotees to be reborn in Shambhala, a celestial kingdom which, it is said, will vanquish the forces of evil in a future cosmic battle.
The ceremony and teachings are often conducted outside Tibet by the Dalai Lama, who is widely reviled by Chinese leaders as a “splittist” seeking to separate Tibet, which was invaded by Communist China in 1950, from Beijing’s control.
Many of the Tibetans ordered home by China were told their families would be harmed if they failed to go back, sources told RFA in earlier reports.
And while the old passports, purchased at a cost of 5,000 yuan (U.S. $759) each and good for 10 years, have not been returned, no new passports are being issued, RFA’s source said.
“These discriminatory actions are confined not just to Tibetans but also affect members of the Uyghur nationality group,” the source said, adding that China’s constitution guarantees protection against discrimination based on ethnicity.
Turned away by hotel
A Tibetan traveling to Beijing this week was meanwhile refused a room at a hotel after showing identification, and was taken by police to a special facility set up to accommodate Tibetans under supervision as the city prepares for a major Communist Party Congress this month.
“The police questioned me about my reasons for visiting Beijing and how long I was planning to stay,” the man told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“They said I would need to report to them again before leaving,” he said.
“Earlier, I had heard that a Uyghur was harassed at the Beijing airport because he belonged to an ethnic minority group, and now I have experienced the same unfair treatment at the hands of the Chinese police,” he said.
Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee and Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Tibet under travel ban, foreigners evicted during CCP National Congress
September 25, 2017
By Mollie Lortie
Tibet Post International, September 25, 2017 – Chinese authorities have reportedly issued orders banning travel in to Tibet from October 18 to 28, a politically charged ten days during which the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China meets.
“During this period, it is not just foreigners but also Tibetans living in the Amdo region of Qinghai who are not allowed to travel in the Tibet Autonomous Region,” an anonymous source told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Because October is a popular month for tourists, the travel ban will deal a severe blow to the economy of the TAR, he said.
Though the Tibet Tourism Bureau has not released an official announcement, several local travel agencies report receiving the notice earlier this month.
During the sensitive, high-level talks, Tibet will close its borders to foreigners, while visitors traveling the country during that period will likewise be required to leave by October 17.
After border stand-off, China and India embroiled in water dispute
September 18, 2017
By Navin Singh Khadka
BBC World Service, September 17, 2017 – China and India may have defused a potential border conflict but the stand-off seems to have led to dispute over another contentious issue: water.
Delhi says it has not received any hydrological – the scientific study of the movement, distribution and quality of water – data for the Brahmaputra river from upstream China this monsoon season, despite an agreement.
One of Asia’s major rivers, the Brahmaputra, originates in Tibet and flows down to India before entering Bangladesh where it joins the Ganges and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
Beijing has said its hydrological stations are being upgraded which means it cannot share data.
But the BBC has found that China continues to share data for the same river with Bangladesh, the lowest downstream country in the Brahmaputra basin.
The river data issue between China and India comes after the two countries ended a tense stand-off over a disputed Himalayan border area that lasted more than two months.
The Brahmaputra gets severely flooded during monsoon season every year, causing huge losses in northeast India and Bangladesh.
The two countries have agreements with China that requires the upstream country to share hydrological data of the river during monsoon season between 15 May and 15 October.
The data is mainly of the water level of the river to alert downstream countries in case of floods.
“For this year…we have not received the hydrological data from the Chinese side beginning 15 May until now,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of India’s External Affairs Ministry said last month at a regular briefing.
“We don’t know the technical reasons behind this but there is an existing mechanism under which China is to provide hydrological data to us.”
The Chinese side last week said there was a technical problem.
“Last year, due to the needs for reconstruction after being damaged by the flood and out of such technological reasons as upgrading and renovation, the relevant hydrological stations in China do not have the conditions to collect relevant hydrological data now,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a press briefing last week.
Officials from Bangladesh, however, said they were still receiving water level and discharge level data of the Brahmaputra from China.
“We received data of water level of the Bramahaputra from China few days ago,” Mofazzal Hossain, a member of the joint rivers commission of Bangladesh told the BBC.
“We have been receiving such data from three hydrological stations in Tibet since 2002 and they have continued to share the figure with us even during this monsoon season”.
Uncertainty
Bangladesh’s water resources minister Anisul Islam Mohammad also confirmed to the BBC that his country was receiving hydrological data from China.
But for India, China has hinted at an uncertainty over resumption of sharing of data.
“As regards whether the providing of relevant hydrological data will be resumed, it depends on the progress of the above-mentioned work,” spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
India only recently secured the agreement with China on receiving monsoon data of the Brahmaputra river, after years of efforts.
Delhi has also asked for data for non-monsoonal flows of the river, because there are suspicions in India that China could divert the waters of the Brahmaputra to its parched regions during dry seasons.
Beijing has constructed several hydropower dams on the river, which is known as Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet.
It says they do not store or divert water and they will not be against the interest of downstream countries.
But in recent years, particularly in northeastern India, fears are also growing that China could suddenly release a huge amount of water.
Residents of Dibrugarh in Assam, where the river has one of its widest stretches, say they have witnessed the water levels of Brahmaputra sharply rise and fall in very short periods of time.
There have also been increasing incidents of landslides blocking rivers and unleashing sudden floods in the Himalayas.
Flood warnings
A recent study has in fact, shown Tibet topping the list of places across the globe that has experienced an increase in water. Experts say all these factors make early flood warnings from China even more crucial.
Officials with India’s water resources ministry say the recent developments have left them somewhat worried.
“We thought we would now be able to convince them to share the hydrological data of the non-monsoon season so that there is no suspicion that they would divert water during lean season,” an official, preferring anonymity, told the BBC.
“But now we are not getting even the monsoon flow information, this is a worrying sign and it also shows their [China’s] intention.”
A year ago, China blocked a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet as part of its most expensive hydro project, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The news came just when Indian media were suggesting that Delhi could pull out of the Indus Water Treaty – signed with Pakistan – following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
As an upstream country for Bangladesh and Pakistan, India too has time and again been accused by these downstream countries of ignoring their concerns.
Experts say these are compelling evidences that water is indeed emerging as a key issue in South Asia’s geopolitics.
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