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China denies building 1000 km tunnel to divert water from Brahmaputra

Beijing: China has called the report of building a 1000 km tunnel to divert water from Brahmaputra river as ‘false and untrue’.

Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post had said that Chinese engineers were testing techniques that could be used to build the tunnel, the world’s longest.

“This is untrue. This is a false report,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

He added, “China will continue to attach great importance to cross- border river cooperation, she said.

Earlier it was reported that China is mulling to build a 1000 km long tunnel which would be world’s largest, to carry water from Brahmaputra river in Tibet close to the Arunachal Pradesh to the parched Xinjiang region.

The move, that is expected to “turn Xinjiang into California”, has raised concerns among environmentalists about its likely impact on the Himalayan region.

The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the world’s highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would provide water in China’s largest administrative division, comprising vast swathes of deserts and dry grasslands.

The water would be diverted from the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet, which turns into the river Brahmaputra once it enters India, to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang.

China’s longest tunnel is the 85-km Dahuofang water project in Liaoning province, while the world’s longest tunnel is the 137-km main water supply pipe beneath the city of New York.

India, a riparian state, has already flagged its concerns to Beijing about various dams being built by it on Brahmaputra river, which is known as Yarlung Tsangpo in China.

 

 

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