New Delhi: Bangladesh’s interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has stepped into a delicate diplomatic balancing act by urging China to share a 50-year masterplan for managing Bangladesh’s river and water systems. This request comes in the wake of Beijing’s decision to construct a massive hydropower dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, a project that has sparked significant concerns in both India and Bangladesh.
Yunus made the call when Water Resources Minister of China Li Guoying met him Friday in Beijing.
“Prof Yunus praised the Chinese water and flood management system, saying the country has done wonders in managing some of the intractable water issues,” Bangladesh media quoted the Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder as saying.
“We have the same problem that you have. So, we’ll be happy if you share your experiences”, Yunus told Li. “Bangladesh is a delta country; we have a country crisscrossed with hundreds of rivers. Water gives us life, but sometimes it becomes an enemy. Now that the population has increased manifold, we have to remain careful about what kind of damage it causes to the ecosystem.”
According to the Bangladesh media reports, Yunus also raised the concerns of India about the proposed mega dam. He said that the increase in population and demand for development are causing people to grab land by riversides.
“The same demand has increased in upper riparian India,” he said, adding that siltation was also causing a problem creating land in the middle of rivers, sinking them sometimes, leading them to death.
Describing China as the master of water management, Yunus reportedly said that Bangladesh has a lot to learn from the country and urged China to share the vision of President Xi Jinping in water management with the country.
On his part, the Chinese minister acknowledged that China and Bangladesh share a similar challenge in water management and promised technical support and expertise to Bangladesh.
“To manage water is a key management issue for Bangladesh; China is facing similar challenges,” Li was quoted as saying while acknowledging that 85 percent of Bangladesh’s people live in flood-prone plains, which has made water management complicated for the country.
Li said that President Xi has put forward a master plan for China, which the country is using to overcome the challenges in water management.
“We need your help to design the plan for us,” Yunus was quoted as saying in response.
Yunus’s decision to highlight India’s apprehensions about the dam during his meeting with Li signals Dhaka’s intent to engage with both regional powers on an issue of vital importance. For India, this development holds critical geopolitical and environmental implications, as it not only affects water security but also reveals the evolving dynamics of India-Bangladesh-China relations.
In December last year, the Chinese government approved the construction of the dam on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The dam, to be built at $137 billion, is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric project when completed and will produce nearly 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually. That means it will generate three times the power of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, also in China, which is currently the world’s largest hydroelectric project.
Though the massive project was included in China’s 14th five-year plan from 2021 to 2025, it was only on December 25 last year that Beijing approved its construction, sparking concerns among experts in India and Bangladesh, countries through which the Brahmaputra flows.
China claims that by building the mega dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River, it will achieve net carbon neutrality by 2060. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China’s hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River “aims to speed up developing clean energy, and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters”.
The river originates at Angsi Glacier in western Tibet, southeast of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. It later forms the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon and then enters Arunachal Pradesh in India, where it is known as Siang. The river becomes far wider from Arunachal Pradesh. Once the river reaches Assam, it is joined by the Dibang and Lohit tributaries and is known as the Brahmaputra. From Assam, the Brahmaputra flows into Bangladesh.
Now, if China builds the dam on the river known as the Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet, experts fear that it will cause immense hydrological and ecological harm downstream in India and Bangladesh. It will also affect India’s prospects of building hydropower projects on the course of the river, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh.
India has been reiterating its longstanding concerns about the impact of such projects on the Brahmaputra River, calling for Beijing to adopt transparent practices and consult with affected countries.
“As a lower riparian state, we have established rights to the use of the waters of the river,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said earlier this year. “We have consistently expressed through expert level as well as diplomatic channels our views and concerns to the Chinese side on mega projects in their territory.”
Jaiswal said that India’s views have been “reiterated along with the need for transparency and with consultation with downstream countries following the latest report”.
“The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of the downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas,” he said. “We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests.”
Yunus’s request comes at a time when speculations are swirling about a possible bilateral meeting between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit to be held in Bangkok in the first week of April.
Bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh are poised delicately following the regime change in Dhaka last year. On August 5 last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power following a mass uprising in protest against what people called her authoritarian style of governance. Three days later, Bangladesh President Mohammad Shahabuddin installed an interim government headed by Yunus as Chief Adviser.
With Hasina taking refuge in India, relations between the two South Asian neighbours have since been tense. The ouster of Hasina also saw the rise of extremist Islamist elements in Bangladesh’s political landscape, leading to large-scale violence against religious minorities, particularly Hindus. India has been continuously voicing its concerns over these developments.
However, in recent times, Yunus has been stressing the importance of good bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh. In an interview with BBC Bangla, Yunus claimed that Bangladesh’s ties with India are “very good” and “our relationship will always be very good”.
According to reports, Dhaka has approached New Delhi to arrange a meeting between Modi and Yunus in Bangkok. However, India has remained non-committal, stating that the request is another consideration.
It is also worth mentioning here that during his visit to China, which concluded Saturday, Yunus invited Chinese investors to take part in the Teesta River water management project in Bangladesh, something that will be a cause of concern for New Delhi. The project had earlier been handed over to India by Hasina.
“In asking China to share its water management masterplan, Yunus is rationally trying to tell Beijing to be transparent,” Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and a leading commentator on transboundary water issues, told ETV Bharat. “However, by handing over the Teesta project to China, Dhaka is trying to expand its water cooperation with Beijing.”
Sinha explained that what India has been doing all along this time is maintaining a strategic patience in terms of dealing with Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh too has realised that it cannot change its ties with India,” he said.
So, where do the ties between the two South Asian nations go from here, given Yunus’s actions in China? Watch this space.
The article appeared in the etvbharat