Hydropolitical competition for the Himalayas

The Himalayas are home to the sources of the ten most important river systems in all of Asia. At the same time, the extensive mountain range is not controlled by a single country, but crosses the political borders of eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Pakistan, India, Bhutan and Nepal. For that reason, the struggle for control of Himalayan water resources is becoming increasingly active as the Asian giants increase their power. In the following, we will see how China's rise as a great world power materializes on its southern border with the conquest of the Himalayas.

Situations where bodies of water are shared between several states are always complicated. In the case of rivers, when they are shared vertically, where one state controls the source and others the downstream route, serious conflicts can quickly arise. An example of this we have seen in the article: The geopolitics of the Nile: the conflict between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, where Ethiopia's geographical position has given it a strategic advantage over Sudan and Egypt for control of the flow of the Nile.

China is in a similar situation with respect to its Asian neighbors. The hydropower that China projects domestically is considerable. It currently has more than 90,000 water infrastructures, including dams, dykes and the like. Nevertheless, the Asian giant suffers from internal supply shortages. Within its borders, it has about 6% of the world's freshwater reserves, which should supply 18% of the world's population. In addition, climate change is making extreme phenomena such as droughts more frequent, threatening to considerably increase the water gap.

Map of water reserves in the Himalayan region by country.

To strengthen its water supply, China is leveraging its geostrategic power position in relation to its Himalayan neighbors by focusing on transboundary rivers. The Asian nation thus seeks to consolidate its influence over these vital water resources, demonstrating a clearly delineated strategy aimed at securing its water future through domination of shared resource management.

In this struggle for greater shares of hydropower, China and India have been at the forefront. The two giants are vying for control of the planet's largest mountain system, and at the center of this competition is Nepal.

The Himalayan country, known for hosting the most coveted mountain peaks for climbing enthusiasts such as Everest and for being the cradle of Buddhism, finds itself in a compromised geopolitical situation. The competition between the giants India and China has a ramification in Nepal. This country has traditionally had a closer relationship with India, among other factors, because geographically it is less problematic to access from its southern border with India than from northern China, added to the fact that India has an exponentially higher concentration of population on the border with Nepal than China.

However, the status quo of tripartite relations changed after the 2015 earthquake, when 10,000 people lost their lives in the region. In the face of this disaster, China carried out the largest humanitarian operation in its history, mobilizing $480 million in aid. Since then, the Chinese presence has only been increasing in this decade. This increased presence has materialized in the construction of land and water infrastructures, which were deployed within the framework of the New Silk Road.

Map of the highest magnitude earthquakes in the Himalayan region. Source: Al Jazeera

These hydraulic projects, called “gifts to development”, are a manifestation of the soft power exercised by China. However, they cannot be separated from the clear asymmetry of power between the two nations.

It is well known that China has adopted an ambitious and well-delineated strategy to consolidate its water supply through the control of transboundary water infrastructures in the Himalayas. This policy not only reinforces its geostrategic influence in the region, but also underscores the active competition with India for control of these vital resources.