A mega dam on the Great Bend of China

**David48atTD** · 25-05-2021, 06:13 PM

The sheer scale of the Tibetan Plateau can be hard to fathom. Its mountain peaks stretch kilometres into the sky, while canyons below sink so deep that few people have ever been able to reach them.

It’s wild and spectacular but it’s also vitally important to about a fifth of the world’s population that relies on its immense freshwater reserves.

A mega dam on the Great Bend of China-screenshot_2021-05-25-wildest-stretch-everest

The Yarlung Tsangpo runs almost 4,000km from Tibet through India and Bangladesh. Supplied: China National Tourist Office in Singapore

The plateau’s glaciers feed 10 of Asia’s major rivers. For centuries, they have played a crucial role in sustaining life in the region.

As China seeks to meet its targets of becoming carbon neutral by 2060, it is turning its sights to some of the wildest reaches of the Tibetan Plateau, where it plans to build a hydropower plant so ambitious that it could produce three times as much power as Three Gorges.

The Great Bend is one of the most remote river stretches on the planet. Supplied: China National Tourist Office in Singapore

“This is the world’s most riskiest project. It’s technically the most difficult to build, ever, and it’s the most expensive project ever undertaken on any river anywhere in the world.

So in that context, I have always seen announcements like this with a bit of scepticism,” said Himanshu Thakkar, a water expert from the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.

What makes the project so risky is that the Great Bend sits atop what’s known as the Indo-Tsangpo Suture Zone. A seismically active region of the Himalayas where the tectonic plates of India and Eurasia meet.

Excellent read with interactive maps and a video here ... High in the Himalayas, China is planning to build the mother of all mega dams - ABC News

**Latindancer** · 26-05-2021, 05:54 AM

In a seismically active region ? Who dreams these things up ? Just imagine the weight of the thing on the earth's crust..

**Grumpy John** · 26-05-2021, 06:03 AM

Originally Posted by Latindancer

In a seismically active region ? Who dreams these things up ? Just imagine the weight of the thing on the earth's crust..

"Who dreams these things up ?" Someone in China looking to make a lot of money.

**panama hat** · 26-05-2021, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Who dreams these things up ?

This:

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

Someone in China

**Klondyke** · 26-05-2021, 09:17 AM

^Quite exceptional ("unbiased") comments on "chinkies" development projects...

**panama hat** · 26-05-2021, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Klondyke

^Quite exceptional ("unbiased") comments on "chinkies" development projects...

Originally Posted by panama hat

This:

Eh? And who are you quoting with "unbiased"?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

chinkies

Prat

**Shutree** · 26-05-2021, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by David48atTD

What makes the project so risky is that the Great Bend sits atop what’s known as the Indo-Tsangpo Suture Zone. A seismically active region of the Himalayas where the tectonic plates of India and Eurasia meet.

What could possibly go wrong?

**harrybarracuda** · 26-05-2021, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

"Who dreams these things up ?" Someone in China looking to make a lot of money.

Someone in China * who stands to have even more political leverage over its neighbours.

* Mr. Shithole.

**Edmond** · 26-05-2021, 03:51 PM

Nice Aussie maps. All nations shown bar Tibet.

**Klondyke** · 26-05-2021, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Edmond

Nice Aussie maps. All nations shown bar Tibet.

?????

**panama hat** · 26-05-2021, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Someone in China * who stands to have even more political leverage over its neighbours.

* Mr. Shithole.

Please no names mentioned here

**OhOh** · 26-05-2021, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Edmond

All nations shown bar Tibet

"Simple. Tibet is not a sovereign state. Only sovereign states could join the United Nation, and that is why Puerto Rico, Palestine, Scotland and Basque are not presented in the UN."

Why isn't Tibet part of the United Nations? - Quora

"The region maintained its autonomy until 1951 when, following the Battle of Chamdo, Tibet was occupied and incorporated into the People's Republic of China, and the previous Tibetan government was abolished in 1959 after a failed uprising.^[5]

Today, China governs western and central Tibet as the Tibet Autonomous Region while the eastern areas are now mostly ethnic autonomous prefectures within Sichuan, Qinghai and other neighbouring provinces. "

Here is the wiki link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Point_Agreement
^{(Caution, allegedly anyone can edit wiki pages.)}

Here is the PRC link:

The Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet
on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet

(Beijing, 23 May 1951)

http://chnun.chinamission.org.cn/eng...ng/t424244.htm

^{(Caution, allegedly nobody can edit}^{PRC government agreements.)}

As at the conclusion of most wars, the winner sets the rules.

**Klondyke** · 26-05-2021, 04:34 PM

Why not to show?

**Edmond** · 26-05-2021, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by OhOh

Here is the Chinese page link:

Here is a non-Chinese one:

"From a legal standpoint, Tibet has to this day not lost its statehood. It is an independent state under illegal occupation. Neither China's military invasion nor the continuing occupation has transferred the sovereignty of Tibet to China."

The Legal Status of Tibet | Cultural Survival.

This could go on a bit, with lots of Chinese links, so will leave it at that. :-)

**Latindancer** · 26-05-2021, 05:03 PM

^ That's a good article.

At the end, where it says : "Are we not, in even considering the merits of China's arguments, accepting the right of powerful modern rulers to invade foreign countries in order to recreate lost empires of their ancestors ?".

It seems so...I was reminded of Israel.

**panama hat** · 26-05-2021, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by Edmond

It is an independent state under illegal occupation. Neither China's military invasion nor the continuing occupation has transferred the sovereignty of Tibet to China."

Sounds quite ok . . .

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