China denies plan to divert Yarlung Tsangpo through 1000-km-long tunnel
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Oct 31: China has dismissed media reports about its plan to build a tunnel stretching 1,000-Km-long from Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet to arid East Turkistan (Ch: Xinjiang) region as ‘false and untrue’.
Chinese engineers were testing techniques that could be used to build the tunnel, the world’s longest to carry water from Tibet to make Xinjiang deserts bloom, according to a report published yesterday on South China Morning Post.
However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has rejected the report as ‘false and untrue’.
“This is untrue. This is a false report,” a PTI report quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying as saying at a media briefing about the report.
Hua Chunying has further said that China will continue to attach great importance to cross- border river cooperation, the report stated.
The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the world’s highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would “turn Xinjiang into California”, the South China Morning Post report cited an anonymous geotechnical engineer involved on the project as saying.
The proposed plan will have the water from Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, known as Brahmaputra in India diverted to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang at the peril of the downstream nations.
