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  • China is damming up rivers in Tibet.

  • They're stealing India's water.

  • And it could lead to armed conflict.

  • Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chappell.

  • This episode has been sponsored by Surfshark.  

  • You should be using a VPN like Surfshark to  protect your identity whenever you go online.

  • Disputes between India and China have been getting  

  • worse this year. Especially since  that deadly border clash in June.

  • But while things seem to have calmed down for  now, there's a lot at stake here. But here's  

  • something you maybe haven't thought aboutwaterThis border dispute is also about protecting  

  • India's, and many other countries', water  supply from Chinese Communist control.

  • It has to do mainly with these  two rivers, which begin in Tibet.  

  • One flows from Tibet through  northwestern India into Pakistan,  

  • and the other flows from Tibet through  northeastern India into Bangladesh.

  • These are major rivers. Millions  of people depend on them

  • But the Chinese Communist Party  would prefer that millions of people  

  • depend on the Communist Party. And  it's becoming a big dam problem.

  • China has plans to build and finance  

  • up to five new dams along the Indus River in  the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan

  • You see, Pakistan and India don't have enough  

  • conflict in Kashmir already, so  China is just trying to help out.

  • The problem with adding new dams is that it could  mess up agriculture downstream. That includes  

  • sending less water to farmland, and reducing  the amount of silt, which also supports farming.

  • And those problems could mean that huge  numbers of Indian farmers have to relocate.

  • The Indian government is very unhappy  about this new dam in Kashmir.  

  • But surprise! Pakistan and China don't care.

  • In July this year, a Chinese  state-owned company began construction.

  • It's the first major Chinese infrastructure  project in Kashmir. It's part of the  

  • China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which China is  tying into its global Belt and Road Initiative. So  

  • there's a lot of money and political power behind  itway more money and political power than the  

  • Indian farmers downstream have. So, the project  moves forward, environmental concerns be dammed

  • And that's just the Indus RiverThere's also the Brahmaputra River.  

  • It flows from Tibet through  India and down to Bangladesh.

  • Over a period of 10 yearsChina has managed to construct  

  • three dams on the Brahmaputra river in  parts of Tibet close to the Indian border.”

  • The largest one became fully operational in 2015.

  • Initially, the Chinese government denied its  existence. But when satellite photos came out, and  

  • they were caught in a lie, they were like, don't  worry, it won't affect the water flow downstream.

  • Yes, dams never affect water flow.

  • China now plans to build eight  more of these kinds of dams.

  • There's another motivation for building  them, though, besides generating power.

  • In the kind of mega project fit only for the most  self-aggrandizing dictatorships, the Communist  

  • Party wants to divert water from these rivers to  Xinjiang, home to all the happy ethnic Ughyurs.

  • They plan to do that with a 600 mile long  

  • tunnel. Chinese authorities hope it  willturn Xinjiang into California.”

  • California? Maybe they need a better analogy.

  • One expert from China's Dalian  University of Technology saidThe  

  • project is 'anticipated to solve the problem  of water, food, and drought in the country.'”

  • Yes. Massive projects that  radically alter the environment  

  • will definitely solve the problem  of water, food, and drought.

  • But Northwestern China is  facing a water shortage crisis.  

  • It's a manmade crisis of course. It stems  mainly from cramming too many people and  

  • too much farmland in a region that's  not naturally able to support it all.

  • But I don't think the Chinese Communist  Party would mind if they solve that crisis  

  • inside China, by causing an environmental  catastrophe for people in other countries

  • And according to an India  analyst at the Hudson Institute,  

  • this will ultimately mean more Chinese  troops on the border with India.

  • This nightmare scenario has already startedBecause China needs more water to develop,  

  • China has started plans to divert the flow  of the river. The more China develops Tibet,  

  • the more Chinese troops will get  deployed to secure these water resources.  

  • As a result, China's military activities in the  India-China border (around Tibet) will increase.”

  • Because in the end, it always seems  to come down to territorial conflicts.

  • And this episode has been sponsored by surfshark.  

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  • Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. See you next time.

China is damming up rivers in Tibet.

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