The rise of China is no doubt one of the most important events in world economic history since the Industrial Revolution which is one of the emerging superpowers of the world today. Its rise fetched a verbal confabulation around the world. The United States, including the G7 countries, have stepped up and publicly announced various programs and measures to cover up China in all aspects, including economic, trade and culture but their all-out efforts yielded no satisfaction for them, neither they could stop China’s progress.
Since the affluence and impact of China’s progress and prosperity, even in this very pandemic time, is brightened globally, anti-China forces, therefore, have resorted to various propaganda against China to undermine it. Using the media as a befitting mechanism, various newspapers and magazines have been busy propagating some of China’s weaknesses through various essayists.
China has differences with neighbouring India for ages on various issues, even, Indo-China border war was raging several times. In fact, the United States is at war with China mainly on trade; and, amidst this pandemic time even, the United States is lagging behind China in the various trade wars. Brahma Chelan, a professor at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research Strategic Studies, has adopted a strategy of exerting international pressure on China by writing articles on a number of China’s internal dams and other issues. For the convenience of the reader some of them are mentioned here in the following:
In an article titled “China’s Dam and Hundred Years of Destruction”, he said that China has made hundred years of destruction blocking so many rivers. The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) will celebrate its 100th founding anniversary on July 1, highlighting 100 years of great achievements and one of which is the construction of the Baihetan Hydroelectric Dam on the Jinsa River on the southeastern tip of the Tibetan Plateau.
The CPC government of China has always preferred the biggest title, in fact, they are the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of goods too; they hold the record of world’s largest foreign reserves, the tallest railways and the tallest and longest bridges.
The number of dams that China alone has is more than the total dams in the world, and they are proud of the world’s largest water supply canal system. In terms of power generation capacity, their project called “Three Georges Dam” is already the largest power plant in the world, and the “Baihetan Dam” which is going to be launched soon will be the largest gated dam globally. Not only that, it is going to be the first dam project in the world to use a gigantic hydro turbine capable of generating one Gigawatt of electricity. The dam will have 16 such generators, making it the second largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The “Three Georges Dam” is on the top of the list in terms of power generation with a capacity of generating 22 Gigawatts.
They have ensured that China’s large dams are designed not only to ensure the country’s inland water security, but also to be used to warn the downstream countries. After the CPC established its occupation of the water-rich Tibetan plateau in 1951, China became a major power on the Asian water map. That was the starting point for China’s growing power in water resources; the point through which the Mekong River entered Southeast Asia, just before it China diverted its flow through 11 huge dams, compensating many Asian rivers for their work. The flow of many rivers has been weakened, even the Yelu and Yangtze rivers inside China have lost their flow due to the project.
Large dam projects generally damage the ecosystem, destroy freshwater organisms, erode the deltas and emit more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. These dams have caused in drying up more than 350 lakes inside China and reduced the flow of many rivers. The earliest dams were built with poor equipment and construction defects, causing floods in the locality and killing countless people. By 1981, 3,200 of their dams had collapsed, in 1975, the collapse of Bankiao Dam alone killed 230,000 people and forcing another countless people for the evacuation. In 2007, the then Wen Jiabao government relocated about 22.3 million people for several dam projects whereas the Three Georges Dam displaced 1.4 million people.
China is now seeking to build the world’s first super dam on the Yarlong Jumbo River in its territory (which is called the Brahmaputra in India). The Brahmaputra flows through the Himalayas with a U-turn and is the longest and largest mountain river on the planet. The river flows from 9,200 m above sea level to India through China. The super dam to be built along the river will generate 60 Gigawatts of electricity which is three times greater than the most productive Three Georges Dam. China has already begun groundwork on the project, building a highway to the site of the dam and launching high-speed trains to the military town, and once it is completed, the dam’s equipment will begin to be transported there.
The CPC sees this work as an occasion of celebration and they fail to understand the damage it will do to the rest of the world. For the internal development of any country, it has the right to take up projects for the welfare of the people of the country, regarding which, though no country has the right to object to its internal development projects, neighboring India thinks that India will have a lot of problems with these Chinese projects, so these river-based projects should not be taken up. But the issue cannot be considered in such way, China can take any profitable project for the development of their country.
Several projects of Bangladesh in collaboration with China had to be stopped due to our neighbouring country India’s objections, especially the construction of deep seaport project, even after determining the possible location in Maheshkhali area of Chittagong it had to be stopped. Our neighbouring Singapore has just changed its economic fortunes by establishing a deep seaport and uplifted state to the list of developed countries, but despite our huge opportunities we have not been able to do so. This issue needs to be reconsidered by the government; our competent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who overcoming hundreds of obstacles did complete many projects, should go ahead starting again the construction of deep seaport at Maheshkhali with the cooperation of China.
We hope she will think about it rapidly and take the country forward undertaking a new plan where we have no other options; for example, the construction of Teesta Barrage, the current government has approved the Teesta Barrage project, quite earlier, from ECNEC and is in the process of implementing it in collaboration with China. In the same way, the present government will have to restart the construction of the deep seaport. No other government will have the guts to take such a bold decision as Sheikh Hasina has, so it is necessary to take this decision as soon as possible for the greater interest of the country.
The economic trade war with China has happened before and will continue to happen in the future; China will move forward by overcoming all obstacles with its capabilities. Every country is wary of small countries for its domination; this role of the United States is not new and in the past the United Kingdom had a similar character, whose empire has collapsed today, but the United Kingdom is now relying on the United States to play a role in extending its hegemony over the world.
All the world superpowers are accepting and will have to accept their defeat to China’s overall development, progress, economic prowess since its purpose is to play a role in the economic welfare of all countries refraining from any political purpose. Obviously, China does not interfere in the internal politics of any country, as such China is becoming everyone’s friend and economic companion.
আবুল কাসেম হায়দার
সাবেক সহ সভাপতি এফবিসিসিআই, বিটিএমইএ, বিজিএমইএ , বেসরকারি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় সমিতি, প্রতিষ্ঠতা চেয়ারম্যান ইস্টার্ন ইউনির্ভাসিটি ও ইসলামিক ফাইন্যান্স এন্ড ইনভেস্টমেন্ট লি:, অষ্ট্রেলিয়ান ইন্টারন্যাশনাল স্কুল, আবুল কাসেম হায়দার মহিলা কলেজ সন্দ্বীপ, চট্টগ্রাম, সাবেক সিনেট সদস্য ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়।
তিনি আজীবন সদস্য : এশিয়াটিক সোসাইটী বাংলাদেশ, বাংলা একাডেমী, চট্টগ্রাম সমিতি, সন্দ্বীপ সমিতি ঢাকা ।
লেখক দৈনিক আজকের আওয়াজ ও সাপ্তাহিক প্যানোরামা সম্পাদকের দায়িত্ব পালন করছেন।
