India urges China for river cooperation, presses for data sharing

NEW DELHI: In another round of diplomatic engagement on the border issue, India and China had “frank discussions” and reviewed the situation along the line of actual control (LAC), with the former underlining that maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the development of bilateral relations.The Indian side also reiterated the need for early convening of the next meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism on trans-border rivers, which was established in 2006, and emphasised the importance of sharing technical details on upstream projects.Following the recent announcement of a mega dam project by China, India has been raising the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries on such upstream activities.According to the Indian govt, as a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of trans-border rivers, India routinely conveys its views and concerns to the Chinese authorities, and has urged them to ensure…