China on Wednesday said an earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region could have caused “turbidity” or muddiness in the waters in the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river, which flows as the Siang and then the Brahmaputra into northeastern India. The foreign ministry, in a statement to Hindustan Times, dismissed reports that said the muddying of the waters of the Siang, which enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, was caused by infrastructure projects being built by China. The statement referred to an earthquake in the region in November as the reason behind the turbidity in the river. The foreign ministry also qualified its statement with regard to the dragging border dispute. The lakes were “caused by natural factors“ and were not the outcome of a “man-made accident”, spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Source: Hindustan Times December 27, 2017 11:48 UTC