The Tibetan plateau, which serves as the source for 10 major rivers in Asia, provides water to hundreds of millions across the continent. But the Chinese regime has weaponized these waters to fuel its own industrialization, starving downstream Asian countries of this precious resource, China analyst and Tibetan activist Maura Moynihan says. //

For decades, Moynihan has traveled around the region, researching and reporting on issues facing Tibet. Her columns were previously published in outlets such as The Washington Post, but the appetite for her reporting ran dry “seemingly overnight” since the 2000s, she said. Media are now “basically doing the CCP’s bidding by removing any and all discussion of Tibet,” she added, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. //

The Chinese regime’s aggressive dam-building projects have allowed it to weaponize waters by shutting off supply to downstream countries, Moynihan said. //

For the past two years, the Mekong River—which originates in Tibet and flows through five Southeast Asian countries—has hit record-low water flows. This was caused not only by less rainfall, but also by China’s upstream hydropower dams that held back vast amounts of water, according to two reports this year.