Last week, the Chinese state media said the country could build up to 60 GW of hydropower capacity on a section of the Brahmaputra, citing a senior executive Yan Zhiyong, chairman of the state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China who spoke at an industry conference. Yan said plans to dam the river were a “historic opportunity”. The supporters of this narrative believe that China already has a plan to divert the Brahmaputra river’s waters– more specifically, the western route of China’s South-North Water Diversion Projects. Commenting on this, Zhang Hongzhou from RSIS said: “This is a misperception. It was only an idea. And it will be no more than an idea.”