Tensions Heighten Amidst China's Construction Of World's Biggest 'Megadam'

India is concerned that China's "mega-dam" project may be a cover for a massive "hydro weapon" resulting in a huge backlog of water that could devastate and deluge neighboring communities.

India is afraid that the dam would "essentially becomes a hydro weapon for the Chinese," according to Dr. Ruth Gamble, a Tibet and Himalayan historian at La Trobe University.

China could build up the water behind it, she said, and then threaten to release it.

“I don't think the Chinese want to do that,” she said, “but because there isn't a lot of communication between the two sides, we are getting a lot of fear and paranoia on the Indian side as well,” she said.

China announced the construction of a "mega-dam" on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, the world's tallest significant river, which runs about 3000 kilometers across the country, India, and Bangladesh.

According to news.com.au, it will take advantage of "The Great Bend," a stunning 180-degree hairpin curve that quickly spirals downwards to a 2,000-foot steep drop.

The Chinese Communist Party hopes that by producing three times more energy than the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, it would be able to meet much of the country's green power needs as it works to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Nonetheless, authorities in India, who has been at odds with China over disputed boundaries since the 1960s, are concerned that it may be used for something considerably more nefarious, perhaps escalating tensions further if the project is approved.

Disputes between China and India have not subsided, and military forces are now stationed on the border, directly across from where China plans to build its mega-dam.

Not only that, scientists feel the project will harm the environment in one of the world's most biodiversity-rich regions, devastate Tibetan holy sites, and affect communities nearby.

Hydroelectricity is China's second-largest source of energy after coal, with over 20,000 dams taller than 15 meters built in the last 70 years.

Many analysts, however, believe that the newest idea is a step too far and that it would be the riskiest building project ever.