Some say the area’s aging dams are a threat to the region, compounded by the Chinese Communist Party’s centralized response system. Probe International looks at why.
Scant change in China’s disaster response from Tangshan to Zhengzhou

A centralized system that prevents local governments from responding fast during emergencies, and rewards them for relief efforts over efforts to prevent calamity, is a recipe for disaster. Analysts weigh in on […]
Another massive earthquake slashes power from China’s No.2 and No.3 hydro dams

A 30 percent loss of output from two massive dams on the upper Yangtze, in combination with a 6.1M earthquake upstream and south-west of the two stricken hydro plants, heightens fears in […]
A deeper look at China’s May quakes
Two strong and separate earthquakes rattled northwest and southwest China this month – one of them the strongest since the devastating Wenchuan earthquake of 2008. The series of May quakes are part of […]
China’s pledge to battle climate change
Does China have the ability to cut its carbon footprint as they have pledged, or is it a ploy to keep its trading partners happy? Probe International’s Patricia Adams joins Between the […]
CCP’s Mekong River Belt and Road projects a Faustian bargain, says expert
Renowned hydrology expert Wang Weiluo says the Chinese Communist Party is looking to utilize the Mekong River in the same way the undertaking of the Three Gorges Dam colossus was viewed as […]
China’s dam rush

Critics query hydropower path to carbon neutrality.
Our “Made in China” climate policy
The main beneficiary of Canada’s climate policy is not the climate. It’s China. Legal expert Andrew Roman unpacks why countries that reduce their emissions last will come out on top in the […]
Hydropower development on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River is an illegal project
China’s new Five-Year plan (2021-2025) has given the green light to build dams on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo, the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River in Tibet before it flows […]
Dai Qing’s “Green Ideas”

This summer, Dai Qing, the legendary Chinese investigative journalist, Probe International Fellow and one of China’s most iconic environmental voices will join the Penguin Classics canon in a new series on the […]
Chinese regime controls ASEAN countries via Mekong ‘water tap,’ expert says
Southeast Asia’s “mother of waters” has become a political bargaining chip in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The only country located entirely on the Mekong River’s upper reaches, the […]
India disaster highlights pressure on Asia’s great rivers
A glacial burst that triggered a deadly flash flood in the Indian Himalayas focuses fears on the impacts of “bumper-to-bumper” dam building in seismically active regions and China’s dam operations in neighbouring […]
China environmental groups slam plan to dam key lake on Yangtze river
Free Birds oppose the return of a project aimed at regulating the water flows of Poyang Lake, considered one of China’s vital “kidneys”.
China coal output highest since 2015 – despite ‘green’ pledges
Green activist groups often praise China for its enlightened policy. But as long-time China watcher Patricia Adams explained last month in a report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, they are merely President Xi’s […]
Where are the environmental critics of China?
When it comes to climate change, China talks about reducing emissions but keeps building coal plants. So why are environmental groups so soft on China?