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Maybe someone gave you water as a newly made up excuse for China taking Tibet? But make no mistake about it, on October 7, 1950, the Chinese were not thinking

Maybe someone gave you water as a newly made up excuse for China taking Tibet? But make no mistake about it, on October 7, 1950, the Chinese were not thinking about water. I'm fairly certain most historians would agree on that point.

nielsbot 9y ago
What were they thinking about?
- singularity2001 9y ago
  general access and control?
DennisP 9y ago
Here are two comments on r/askhistorians saying water was one of the reasons [1], along with natural resources in general [2]. Of course that's not the only reason; other answers make clear there were a lot of factors. Now though, Tibetan water is a huge issue, including for other countries downstream of Tibet including India and Pakistan [3]. There are no water treaties between these countries; China has been building a lot of dams and is planning a massive 600-mile pipeline to divert Tibetan water that would otherwise go to India [4]. Tibet is the third largest repository of fresh water after the two poles [5]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35fuz5/leaving_aside_the_party_line_why_has_china/cr46qfj/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35fuz5/leavi... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2giaje/was_the_1951_invasion_of_tibet_purely/ckjs7np/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2giaje/was_t... [3] https://www.equaltimes.org/china-s-water-grab-in-tibet-risks https://www.equaltimes.org/china-s-water-grab-in-tibet-risks [4] https://qz.com/1114843/chinas-grand-plan-for-the-brahmaputra-a-1000km-tunnel-to-divert-water-away-from-tibet/ https://qz.com/1114843/chinas-grand-plan-for-the-brahmaputra... [5] https://www.theglobalist.com/tibet-and-21st-century-water-wars/ https://www.theglobalist.com/tibet-and-21st-century-water-wa...
- vim_wannabe 9y ago
  Anyone else feel like [3-5] should be a bigger issue? Desertification is scary as hell already but this is even more immediate.

nielsbot 9y ago

What were they thinking about?

singularity2001 9y ago
general access and control?

DennisP 9y ago

Here are two comments on r/askhistorians saying water was one of the reasons [1], along with natural resources in general [2]. Of course that's not the only reason; other answers make clear there were a lot of factors. Now though, Tibetan water is a huge issue, including for other countries downstream of Tibet including India and Pakistan [3]. There are no water treaties between these countries; China has been building a lot of dams and is planning a massive 600-mile pipeline to divert Tibetan water that would otherwise go to India [4]. Tibet is the third largest repository of fresh water after the two poles [5]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35fuz5/leaving_aside_the_party_line_why_has_china/cr46qfj/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35fuz5/leavi... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2giaje/was_the_1951_invasion_of_tibet_purely/ckjs7np/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2giaje/was_t... [3] https://www.equaltimes.org/china-s-water-grab-in-tibet-risks https://www.equaltimes.org/china-s-water-grab-in-tibet-risks [4] https://qz.com/1114843/chinas-grand-plan-for-the-brahmaputra-a-1000km-tunnel-to-divert-water-away-from-tibet/ https://qz.com/1114843/chinas-grand-plan-for-the-brahmaputra... [5] https://www.theglobalist.com/tibet-and-21st-century-water-wars/ https://www.theglobalist.com/tibet-and-21st-century-water-wa...

vim_wannabe 9y ago
Anyone else feel like [3-5] should be a bigger issue? Desertification is scary as hell already but this is even more immediate.