"India Can Help Draft A New Brahmaputra Water Treaty" By CWP Alum Joel Wuthnow

India’s G20 presidency is a decisive moment for the country on the global stage, and it could also have a positive payoff for human security. Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi should consider seizing the opportunity to press forward for stronger international cooperation in the Brahmaputra basin. The region contains the world’s fifth-largest river by flow, traversing China, India, and Bangladesh. Unlike other major river systems, such as the Amazon, the Brahmaputra does not have a water management accord. Poor institutionalisation exacerbates existing challenges. The basin runs across a disputed border contested by two nuclear-armed countries engaged in tense border interactions. China has used its status as the upper riparian as a source of coercive leverage, including withholding hydrological data upon which India relies to forecast floods. China’s plans to build dams along the river, including a proposed mega-dam in the “great bend” region near the border, have stoked concerns about China’s ability to divert the river’s course.

ByNilanthi Samaranayake, Joel Wuthnow, Satu Limaye

Apr 27, 2023 09:02 PM IST - Article here

Dr. Joel Wuthnow is a senior research fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs within the Institute for National Strategic Studies at NDU. His research areas include Chinese foreign and security policy, Chinese military affairs, U.S.-China relations, and strategic developments in East Asia. In addition to his duties in INSS, he also serves as an adjunct professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. 

His recent books and monographs, all from NDU Press, include Gray Dragons: Assessing China's Senior Military Leadership (2022), Crossing the Strait: China's Military Prepares for War with Taiwan (2022, lead editor), The PLA Beyond Borders: Chinese Military Operations in Regional and Global Context (2021, lead editor), System Overload: Can China's Military Be Distracted in a War over Taiwan? (2020), and Chairman Xi Remakes the PLA: Assessing Chinese Military Reforms (2019, co-editor). His research and commentary has also appeared in outlets such as Asia Policy, Asian Security, China Leadership Monitor, The China Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Joint Force Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Strategic Studies, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, Naval War College Review, and in edited volumes

Photo Credit: By Deepraj - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2218364