[Source: China News]

The Yarlung River is located in southern Tibet. In ancient Tibetan documents it is referred to as “the river that flowing down from the highest peak.”

According to the State Council information Office, China does not plan to develop any of its shared river channels due to technical difficulties, potential environmental impacts, and state relations.

In a recent news briefing, Jiao Yong, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources announced “the annual outflow of Yarlung River is 166.1 billion square kilometers. As it is such a big river, there has been much domestic support for the river to be developed and exploited. However, taking into account technical difficulties, water diversion requirements, environmental impacts and international relations, the development of the Yarlung River is not part of our current plan.”

Of China’s total water resources of 2.8 trillion cubic meters, there are 730 billion cubic meters of water flowing to international water channels or shared by China and its neighbouring countries.

Translated by Jianning Wu and Angela Merriam