China plans to build a hydropower dam across the Yarlung Zangbo River in Medog County in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Indian officials are concerned that China could use the dam to control the flow of the river’s water into northeast India.
In Bangladesh, experts fear that China could be damming the water and causing water scarcity downstream.
The Yarlung Zangbo runs eastward through southern Tibet for around 1,600 kilometers and then swerves southward at the Great Bend to enter India.
In India, it flows through the states of Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as Siang, and Assam, where it is called the Brahmaputra, before flowing into Bangladesh.
After being joined by the Ganga in Bangladesh, it empties its waters into the Bay of Bengal.
The 60 million kWh hydropower exploitation at the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River could provide 300 billion kWh of clean, renewable and zero-carbon electricity annually.
It would play a significant role in enabling China to achieve a carbon emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060.
Yan has described the dam project as “a historic opportunity for the Chinese hydropower industry.”