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U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan will visit New Delhi on January 5-6 and is expected to discuss the impact of Chinese dams with his Indian counterpart, a senior U.S. official said late Friday.
Washington and its Western allies have long viewed India as a rival to China’s growing influence in Asia and beyond.
“We do see in many places in the Indo-Pacific that dams built by the Chinese upstream, including in the Mekong region, can have really potentially damaging environmental and climate impacts on downstream countries,” a senior U.S. official said. .
The official added that Washington would discuss New Delhi’s concerns during the visit.
The Indian government said it had expressed concerns to Beijing about China’s plans to build a Tibetan hydroelectric dam on the Brahmaputra river that flows into India. Chinese officials say the Tibet hydropower project will not have a significant impact on the environment or downstream water sources.
Construction of the dam, which will be the largest of its kind in the world and is expected to generate 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, was approved last month.
Washington also expects the visit to discuss civilian nuclear energy cooperation, artificial intelligence, space, military licensing and overcapacity in the Chinese economy, the U.S. official said.
Another U.S. official said U.S. officials would not meet with the Dalai Lama during the visit.
Washington and New Delhi have developed a close relationship in recent years but have been sporadic over issues such as India’s mistreatment of minorities, New Delhi’s ties with Russia during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and an alleged assassination plot against Sikh separatists on U.S. and Canadian soil. There are disagreements.
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