(TibetanReview.net, Feb16’24) – Chinese authorities have tightened security while trying to identify organizers and participants after at least 300 local Tibetans staged a protest Feb 14 against the ongoing construction of the largest capacity dam on the Jinsha (Tibetan: Drichu) River in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, reported the Tibetan service of rfa.org Feb 15, citing local and exile Tibetan sources.
The demonstrators gathered outside the Dege County Town Hall in Garze (Tibetan: Kardze) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to demand that local authorities halt construction of the 2,240-megawatt dam, the report said.
“Halt the dam project,” the report quoted protesters as shouting in a video capture of the demonstration, as Chinese county officials told them the latter had no say in the matter and urged them to stop shouting.
The report said such protests were rare in the People’s Republic of China, particularly among Tibetans, due to strict controls on public gatherings and extensive surveillance through the widespread use of technology to monitor activity and communication.
The Drichu river (Chinese: Jinsha) dam, located in Tibet at the junction of Baiyu (Palyul) County in Sichuan Province and Konjo (Gojo) County in Tibet Autonomous Region, will displace at least two villages and six monasteries.
Called the Yebatan hydropower station, the construction of this largest hydropower project in the upper reaches of the Jinsha River exceeded 100 metres on Dec 10, achieving a major milestone, China’s official globaltimes.cn earlier reported Dec 11.
The Drichu (Jinsha) river runs through more than 10 provinces in Tibetan-inhabited areas and China.
“In Tibet, there are many Tibetan villages and towns along the Drichu River, but the Chinese government, without paying any heed to the local people’s needs or to the environmental hazards, has built several dams already and they plan to build many more,” rfa.org quoted Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen, deputy director of the Tibet Policy Institute, the Tibetan government-in-exile’s policy and research arm, as saying.
Following the protests, Chinese authorities increased security measures and have been trying to identify protest organizers and participants, the report cited two sources in Tibet as saying.
Located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, one of the most important waterways in China and the third-longest river in the world, the Yebatan hydropower station is a major project supported by the central government for the economic and social development of the Xizang region, said the globaltimes.cn report, citing PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited (CECL).
Some of China’s largest hydropower projects have been built on rivers that originate in Tibet. Activists contend that they disrupt natural flows of water and silt that are vital for making farmland fertile, play havoc with local ecosystems, and displace nearby residents.
The main construction of the project kicked off in Dec 2016. The first unit of the project is expected to have the conditions to generate electricity by the end of 2025 and the whole project is expected to be completed in 2026, the report cited the CECL as saying.