India presses China for $137B Tibet dam details at WMCC
India and China just wrapped up their 36th WMCC meeting in New Delhi, mainly talking about border issues and sharing river resources.
India pressed China for details on big upstream projects, especially a $137 billion mega dam in Tibet, because it could seriously affect water flow and the environment for countries downstream like India and Bangladesh.
India urges expert level mechanism reconvening
The Indian side reiterated the need for early convening of the next meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism on trans-border rivers and emphasized the importance of sharing technical details on upstream projects.
They also checked in on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), agreeing to continue using existing diplomatic and military channels, including WMCC, local military commander-level meetings, and other agreed mechanisms, to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the LAC (a follow-up from their 2024 deal that ended a long standoff).
While there's been progress, like restarting the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and direct flights, trade imbalances and export restrictions are still big hurdles between them.