| Abstract: | Water is now quickly becoming a strategic element in international politics especially in Asia which has numerous major rivers and are cross-boundary. This paper explores the increasing ‘weaponization of water’ along the Brahmaputra River basin in the framework of Belt and Road Initiative of the Chinese and emergence of hydro-strategic competition in a multipolar Asian region. Brahmaputra, also referred to as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, is a river that has had its source in China, but is flowing in India, and supporting millions of people in Bangladesh. The dam building activities in China that are upstream, a lack of transparency, and the lack of a binding water-sharing treaty have fuelled downstream apprehensions about water security, the risk of floods, and the river water flow may be diverted. This paper examines how river hydropower infrastructure, data management, climate change and geopolitical rivalry is turning the river into a means of statecraft. Through the examination of current literature, policy reports and current events, the paper has realized the deterioration of water governance and mistrust over the strategy as a cause of a rising tension in the region. Simultaneously, the study holds that the Brahmaputra basin is equally an opportunity to collaborate, particularly by sharing data, by multilateral institutions, and by multilateral collaboration in terms of climate. The paper concludes that, in the absence of better regional governance, the geopolitical rivalry, caused by water insecurity, can intensify, yet cooperative structures can turn the river into a tool of regional stability and common development. |
