By Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate | Jun 4, 2025
It is impossible to know the full extent of China’s destruction of the Tibetan Plateau, not least because the area is off limits to international observers. But there is no doubt that the region’s ecosystem is becoming increasingly fragile, with far-reaching social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences.
TOKYO – The Tibetan Plateau is home to vast glacial reserves, which amount to the largest store of fresh water outside the Arctic and the Antarctic. It is also the source of ten major Asian river systems – including the Yellow and Yangtze rivers of mainland China, the Mekong, Salween, and Irrawaddy rivers of Southeast Asia, and the Indus and Brahmaputra of South Asia – which supply water to nearly 20% of the global population. And, now, it is the site of a slow-burning environmental calamity that is threatening the water security, ecological balance, and geopolitical stability of the entire Asian continent.
For over two decades, China has been engaged in an aggressive and opaque dam-building spree, centered on – though not limited to – the Tibetan Plateau. Yet China’s government has refused to negotiate a water-sharing treaty with any of the downriver countries, which must suffer the consequences of their upstream neighbor’s whims.
Already, Chinese-built mega-dams near the Plateau’s border have brought water levels in the Mekong River to unprecedentedly low levels, with devastating effects on fisheries and livelihoods across Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. As the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam retreats – driven partly by Chinese dams – rice farmers are being forced to abandon their traditional livelihoods, instead farming shrimp or growing reeds.
Yet China’s dam ambitions continue to grow. The Three Gorges Dam, which runs along the Yangtze River, is the largest in the world. But it will be dwarfed by the dam China is now building on the Yarlung Zangbo river, also known as the Brahmaputra, in a seismically active region of the Tibetan Plateau. If completed, this project would drastically alter water flows into India and Bangladesh, threaten the region’s food security and ecological balance, and increase China’s geopolitical leverage over downstream countries.
The specter of water weaponization looms large. In fact, water is fast becoming the new oil – a strategic resource with the potential to trigger conflicts. Already, water disputes within and between countries are intensifying.
But China’s assault on the Tibetan Plateau extends beyond water. Its avaricious mining of Tibet’s mineral-rich lands – which boast critical resources like lithium, gold, and copper – is contributing to deforestation and producing toxic-waste discharge, while providing cover for China’s militarization of the Plateau.
It is impossible to know the full extent of China’s destruction. The area is off limits to international observers, and efforts by members of indigenous Tibetan communities – whose cultural reverence for nature has underpinned a long history of sound environmental stewardship – to sound the alarm are quickly quelled, often through imprisonment or exile.
But there is no doubt that the Tibetan Plateau’s ecosystem is becoming increasingly fragile, especially given its heightened vulnerability to climate change. The Plateau is warming at twice the global average rate, and its ice is melting faster than at the poles – trends that are reducing its water-storage capacity and reshaping river flows.
The implications are far-reaching. The Tibetan Plateau, which towers over the rest of Asia (rising into the troposphere), profoundly influences Asian climatic, weather, and monsoonal patterns, and even affects atmospheric general circulation – the system of winds that transports warm air from the equator toward higher latitudes – in the Northern Hemisphere. Its degradation will exacerbate droughts and floods, accelerate biodiversity loss, contribute to agricultural collapse, and fuel mass migration across Asia and beyond.
Despite these risks, the international community, from global climate forums to multilateral institutions like the United Nations and World Bank, has been deafeningly silent about Tibet. The reason is not ignorance, but fear: China has used its clout to suppress meaningful criticism of its actions on the “roof of the world.”
Given the stakes, the international community cannot afford to let itself be cowed by China. Countries must relentlessly press for transparency about China’s activities on the Tibetan Plateau. Specifically, China must share real-time hydrological data and submit its projects for international environmental assessment. Independent environmental researchers and monitors must be granted unfettered access to the Plateau to gather vital data and conduct unbiased analyses.
China must also be held accountable for its violations of the rights of indigenous communities – including the nearly one million Tibetans who have been forcibly relocated from their ancestral lands since 2000. Western governments and multilateral institutions have leverage here. By tying environmental transparency, respect for indigenous rights, and equitable management of shared river systems to trade agreements and climate cooperation, they can compel China to change its behavior. Direct support for indigenous Tibetan voices and civil-society networks would also help boost transparency.
Ignoring the unfolding crisis on the Tibetan Plateau might seem expedient; after all, China has plenty of economic and geopolitical clout – and it is not afraid to use it. But the costs of inaction would be staggering. Tibet is Asia’s ecological lifeline. China must not be allowed to use it in ways that threaten to upend the lives of people throughout the continent and beyond.
Brahma Chellaney, Professor Emeritus of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Water: Asia’s New Battleground (Georgetown University Press, 2011), for which he won the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award.
Copyright Project Syndicate
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. Putin Approves Russia’s First Long-Term Naval Strategy Through 2050 - The Moscow Times
Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev told the pro-government newspaper Argumenty i Fakty that the strategy underscores Russia’s ambitions to restore its status as a major maritime power.
He said the document assesses the global military and political environment, outlines potential conflict scenarios and analyzes the capabilities of leading naval powers. He said it also incorporates lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has suffered significant losses from Ukrainian missile and drone strikes.
2. Russia's Migrant Crackdown Expands With Mandatory Mobile Tracking - RFE/RL
Russia is preparing to launch a sweeping new system to monitor migrant workers, combining biometric registration, location tracking, and intensified police oversight.
Set to begin in September, the program marks the latest phase in the Kremlin's tightening grip on migration – under the banner of national security and social order. Over the next four years, foreign nationals entering without a visa will be required to register in a government-run mobile application that tracks their geolocation in real time. Failure to transmit location data for more than three days could result in the migrant being placed on a special watchlist – effectively a fast track to deportation.
3. Trump Announces U.S.-China Delegation Meeting In London - TIPP Insights
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that a high-level U.S. trade delegation will meet with Chinese officials in London on Monday, June 9, to discuss implementing the recently finalized trade deal.
The delegation will include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer. Trump said he expects the talks to “go very well.”
4. Rare-Earth Prices Hover Near Record Highs Amid China Export Curbs - Nikkei Asia
Prices of rare-earth metals remain close to record highs, elevated by sudden scarcity due to Chinese export curbs, with little relief expected soon on these critical materials for advanced industrial and defense applications.
Dysprosium and terbium, which are used in high-performance magnets, tripled in price during May compared with April before slipping from record levels since then. China has wielded rare-earth materials as a powerful bargaining chip in response to U.S. tariffs.
5. China To Fast-Track Applications For Rare-Earth Minerals To U.S., EU - UPI
China's Minister Secretary Wang Wentao said his nation is "willing to establish a green channel for qualified applications to speed up approval." Details weren't given, including the speed of the process and which EU nations are included.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke Thursday about easing trade tensions.
6. Greta Thunberg And Other Activists On Gaza Aid Boat Will Be Deported, Israel Says - BBC
A yacht carrying activists and a small quantity of humanitarian aid that was trying to reach Gaza is continuing towards an Israeli port, Israel's foreign ministry says.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg and a French lawmaker are among 12 people aboard the Madleen that was intercepted by Israeli forces earlier today. Israel brands the boat a "selfie yacht" and says it is carrying "less than a single truckload of aid" and that the activists will be deported.
7. Iranian TV Alleges Massive Spy Operation Targeting Israeli Nuclear Sites - RFE/RL
Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, has reported what it describes as one of the "largest intelligence operations" in history against Israel, claiming Iranian intelligence obtained a vast cache of "sensitive documents" – including thousands allegedly related to Israeli nuclear projects and facilities – from inside Israeli territory.
IRIB’s rolling news channel, IRINN, said the operation involved extracting an “abundance of strategic and sensitive information and documents” from within Israel, citing unnamed “regional sources.”
8. Information Obtained By Iran ‘Seem To Refer’ To Israeli Nuclear Research Site: Grossi - A.P.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the information Iran claimed it seized regarding Israel’s nuclear program “seems to refer” to the country’s Soreq Nuclear Research Center, the first acknowledgment outside of Tehran of the theft.
The office of Israel’s prime minister had no immediate response on the remarks by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who spoke during a news conference in Vienna. The alleged theft comes at a time of renewed tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
9. Iran To Present Counter-Proposal To U.S. In Nuclear Talks - Reuters
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran will soon send the United States via Oman a counterproposal for a nuclear deal in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems “unacceptable.”
The spokesperson also called on the international community to force nuclear disarmament upon Israel, Iran’s longstanding foe which Tehran says is trying to thwart the nuclear negotiations.
10. NATO Secretary General Rutte To Ask Allies To Up Military Spending - UPI
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to deliver remarks at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a British think tank also known as Chatham House, in London and meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
It is anticipated that Rutte will ask NATO allies to increase their defense spending by 400%. He's likely to lay out an outline for why it's necessary for each to agree to up their military spending to 5% of GDP when they meet at a summit in The Hague later this month.
11. Swiss Government Proposes Requiring Banks To Hold More Capital - UPI
Switzerland's Federal Council submitted new capital requirements for mega-banks like UBS in the wake of the Credit Suisse crisis. It requires UBS to hold $26 billion more in core capital.
The Swiss Federal Council said in a statement that a review of the Credit Suisse crisis showed reforms are needed to reduce risks for the state, taxpayers and the economy. The council is proposing amendments to the Banking Act in the wake of the Credit Suisse crisis that led to the UBS/CS merger.
12. NATO Leaders Propose 5% Defense Investment By Member States - UPI
The proposed defense investment plan would require member nations to invest 5% of their respective gross domestic products in defense, NATO officials announced.
The change would make NATO a "stronger, fairer, more lethal alliance and ensure warfighting readiness for years to come," according to NATO. Many NATO members currently spend about 2% of their respective GDPs, which President Donald Trump has said is insufficient.
13. North Korean Warship That Tipped Over During Launch Is Upright Again - RFA
Satellite imagery shows that a North Korean warship that tipped over during its launch ceremony as the supreme leader looked on appears to have been righted.
The U.S.-based website 38 North, which specializes in North Korea, said that imagery taken on Monday showed the 5,000-ton naval destroyer standing upright at a shipyard in the northeastern port city of Chongjin. Imagery taken on Thursday showed it floating in the harbor.
14. Japan's Ispace Fails Second Lunar Landing Mission - D.W.
Tokyo-based startup ispace had launched the mission in hopes of becoming the first private company outside the United States to achieve a controlled lunar landing.
The Resilience spacecraft had begun its final descent, successfully firing its main engine "as planned to begin deceleration," ispace said. Mission control reported that the craft's position was "nearly vertical," but contact was then lost. The mission was aborted as it was likely the craft had crashed after losing contact.
15. Hungary’s Crackdown on LGBTQ+ Content Violates Human Rights, Says EU Lawyer - The Guardian
A Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European Court of Justice.
The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called child protection law, passed in 2021. The legislation, which has been likened to Russia’s infamous “gay propaganda law”, means that gay and transgender people or themes cannot feature in school educational material or any TV show, film or advert shown before 10pm.
16. Brazil Advances Amazon Oil Exploration Ahead Of Climate Conference - UPI
Brazil's environmental authority has approved one of the final requirements for state-run oil company Petrobras to proceed with oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River.
After several rejections, Petrobras secured approval from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources for its wildlife protection plan. The decision allows the company to proceed to a preoperational evaluation phase. This stage includes live emergency simulations to test Petrobras' response capabilities. The success of these tests will be key to the environmental authority's final decision whether to issue a drilling license.
17. Oceans Cannot Become 'Wild West', Warns UN Chief - BBC
Unregulated mining in the deep sea should not be allowed to go ahead, the head of the United Nations has warned.
"The deep sea cannot become the Wild West," UN Secretary General António Guterres said at the opening of the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France. His words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who declared the "oceans are not for sale".
18. AI-Generated Pope Sermons Flood YouTube, TikTok - AFP
An AFP investigation identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages that have been churning out AI-generated messages delivered in the pope's voice or otherwise attributed to him since he took charge of the Catholic Church last month.
The hundreds of fabricated sermons and speeches, in English and Spanish, underscore how easily hoaxes created using artificial intelligence can elude detection and dupe viewers.
19. Crypto Exchange Gemini Confidentially Files For U.S. IPO - Reuters
Gemini, which operates a trading platform enabling investors to buy, sell and store more than 70 crypto tokens, said it has not yet determined the size or proposed price range for its offering.
Several high-profile companies, including those in high-risk sectors such as crypto and financial technology, have launched successful listings in recent weeks, reflecting pent-up demand. Earlier this week, stablecoin issuer Circle went public in a blowout debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
20. Naps Associated With Increased Risk Of Death, Report Says - HealthDay News
People with certain types of napping patterns have a greater risk of an early death, researchers are slated to report at an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Results showed an increased risk of premature death for:
• People who tended to take longer daytime naps
• Folks whose napping patterns fluctuated frequently
• People who napped between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
This last observation contradicts academy guidelines, which encourages adults to limit themselves to "power naps" of no more than 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon, researchers noted.
