River flowing from China dries up in India

A major river in India's northeast that originates in Tibet has suddenly dried up, triggering speculation that China might be responsible, a local official told AFP on Thursday. The river has its source in China's southwestern Tibet region, where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo, and it enters India in the mountainous and remote north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh where it it is called the Siang. It descends down into the plains of adjoining Assam state, where it is vital for local agriculture, and its waters eventually become the mighty Brahmaputra, one of Asia's biggest rivers. "It was shocking to find the Siang river drying up and patches of sand visible on its bed in a very large stretch close to Pasighat town," local state lawmaker Tako Dabi told AFP by telephone, referring to a town in East Siang district. "We suspect the sudden drying up of the Siang could be a result of China either diverting the river water on their side or due to some artificial blockades somewhere in the upper reaches," added Dabi, an advisor to the state's chief minister. Video footage from the scene shows the Siang -- which is several kilometres (miles) wide at Pasighat, according to Dabi -- reduced to flowing in several narrow channels in the large sandy riverbed. "Locals are worried as the river is a source of livelihood," Dabi added. There is constant speculation in the Indian media about the danger of China diverting rivers that originate in Tibet and flow into India, or disrupting their flow with hydroelectric plants. The problem with the flow of the Siang came on the day the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi held talks in New Delhi with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna. They have decided that 2012 will be the "India-China year of Friendship and Cooperation" in a bid to overcome mutual mistrust and suspicion that continues to bedevil their relations. The two Asian giants have an unresolved border dispute that was the cause of a brief but bloody war in 1962. China claims almost all of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory.