Cross-Border Water Politics: The Sino-Indian Hydropower Competition in the Brahmaputra Basin and Its Implications for Regional Security

Abstract

This paper examines the escalating hydropower competition between China and India in the Yarlung Tsangpo river basin, analysing how infrastructure development on transboundary waters has evolved into a critical flashpoint for regional security. Through systematic analysis of China’s Medog Dam project and India’s counter-dam strategy, this study reveals how the absence of robust cooperative frameworks transforms water resource development into a strategic security dilemma. The research demonstrates that this competitive dynamic disproportionately impacts downstream populations and indigenous communities while undermining long-term ecological stability. Drawing on this development and empirical evidence from the transboundary river disputes, the paper argues that the current trajectory of unilateral dam construction represents an institutionally deficient approach to transboundary water governance, necessitating urgent trilateral cooperation mechanisms to prevent the transformation of shared water resources into instruments of geopolitical contestation.