Teesta Project Likely on Agenda for Yunus-Xi Talks

Quick summary

• Bangladesh’s chief adviser Muhammad Yunus is visiting China,with discussions perhaps including the Teesta river water management project.
• Ahead of meetings with chinese President Xi Jinping, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin confirmed that water management issues are part of the agenda and Teesta might potentially be discussed.
• While China has expressed interest in implementing the teesta project, Sheikh Hasina, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, stated in 2024 that India should lead the initiative since it controls the river’s waters.
• In 2016, Bangladesh signed a non-binding MoU with China’s Power Construction Corporation for exploring solutions too manage Teesta’s challenges; this resulted in a master plan finalized under China’s suggestion by 2020.

Indian Opinion Analysis
The inclusion of the long-debated teesta River project in high-level discussions underscores its strategic importance for both regional water resource management and geopolitics. While former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina had emphasized India’s involvement due to geographical considerations-India controls upstream waters-it remains unclear how China’s past feasibility studies will shape current deliberations between Dhaka and Beijing. For India, any enhanced Chinese role may invoke concerns about influence over South Asia’s water dynamics or infrastructural dependency shifts in neighboring states such as Bangladesh.

India’s collaborative potential on this issue coudl symbolize its regional leadership while fostering longer-term stability concerning transboundary river agreements amidst climate-related vulnerabilities affecting shared resources like water.

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