In regard to Brahma Chellaney's Oct. 19 article, "China's unparalleled rise as a hydro-hegemon," China has set a template for holistic development of natural resources that its peers would do well to emulate.
India for example, of which I am a citizen, has consciously rejected the Garland Scheme, which would have harnessed its wealth of riparian assets for the people. Simultaneously, India holds terrifying powers over its smaller neighbors through dam systems inherited from colonial rulers. It is fashionable in the quarters of the author to pin allegations on Beijing, but I can think of no modern nation anywhere that has husbanded precious fresh water as well as the Chinese.
Incidentally, most countries have been formed in controversial circumstances. The Tibet issue is by no means unique in the divisive history of the subcontinent of India.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.