No, China is not building 1,000 km tunnel to divert Brahmaputra water to Xinjiang

A day after Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that China could be building a 1,000-km long tunnel to turn cold arid Xinjiang region into an oasis of life, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying called it a 'false report'.

Hua said the report was untrue, and added that Beijing would take into account the interests of downstream countries. "China will continue to attach great importance to cross-border river cooperation," Hua added.

The SCMP report suggested that Chinese engineers were testing techniques that could be used to build a 1,000-km long tunnel, the worlds longest, to carry water from Brahmaputra river in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh to the parched Xinjiang region.

The move, that is expected to "turn Xinjiang into California", has raised concerns among environmentalists about its likely impact on the Himalayan region, South China Morning Post had reported.

The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the worlds highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would provide water in China's largest administrative division, comprising vast swathes of deserts and dry grasslands, the report had said.

The water would be diverted from the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet, which turns into the river Brahmaputra once it enters India, to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang, it said.

China's longest tunnel is the 85-km Dahuofang water project in Liaoning province, while the worlds longest tunnel is the 137-km main water supply pipe beneath the city of New York.

India's Concerns

India, a riparian state, has already flagged its concerns to Beijing about various dams being built by it on Brahmaputra river, which is known as Yarlung Tsangpo in China.

Beijing has been assuring India and Bangladesh, which is also a recipient of the waters from the river, that its dams were of the run of river projects and not designed to storing water.

Wang Wei, a researcher who helped draft the latest Tibet-Xinjiang water tunnel proposal, which was submitted to the central government in March, said more than 100 scientists formed different teams for the nationwide research effort.

He was part of the team which was led by Chinas top tunnelling expert, Wang Mengshu. The team, according to the report suggested to drain Brahmaputra at Sangri county in southern Tibet, close to Arunachal Pradesh.

"Sangri county featured a large, relatively flat valley that was ideal for the engineering project. An artificial island would be built in the middle of the river to create rapid turbulence, which could filter out sediment, and direct water to a well. The well could control the amount of water flowing into the tunnel," the report said.

Researchers said building the Yunnan tunnel would be a "rehearsal" of the new technology, engineering methods and equipment needed for the Tibet-Xinjiang tunnel, which would divert the Brahmaputra river to the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, it said.

Chinese engineers say the Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as "the roof of the world", stops the monsoon from Indian Ocean reaching Xinjiang leaving the Gobi Desert in the north and the Taklimakan Desert in the south unsuitable for human settlement.

In recent decades, Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Water Resources, have come up with engineering blueprints involving huge dams, pumps and tunnels, the report said.

with PTI inputs