Eastern Asia

Japanese chemical and biological weapons activities reportedly include tests by ‘Unit 731’ against military and civilian targets by lacing water wells and reservoirs with typhoid and other pathogens.

Centralized dams on the Yalu (Amnok) River serving North Korea and China are attacked during Korean War.

North Korea’s announcement of its plans to build the Kumgansan hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Han River upstream of Seoul raises concerns in South Korea that the dam could be used as a tool for ecological destruction or war.

In July, thousands of protesters take to the streets in Qidong, Jiangsu Province to challenge a pipeline from a Japanese owned paper factory that would discharge contaminated wastewater into the sea, potentially pollute a nearby fishery, and contaminate drinking water. Demonstrators clash with police and there are reports of damages to government buildings, cars, and other property. Fourteen people plead guilty to encouraging the riot in which dozens of police are injured and the local Communist party chief is stripped…

Around the Chinese New Year, farmers from Hebei and Henan Provinces fight over limited water resources. Heavy weapons, including mortars and bombs, are used and nearly 100 villagers are injured. Houses and facilities are damaged and the total loss reaches one million $US.

Without previous warning, North Korea releases 40 million cubic meters of water from the Hwanggag dam, causing a flash flood on the Imjin River. In South Korea, at least 6 fisherman and campers are drowned. North Korea claims that the water had to be urgently released and promises to warn the South of future releases. South Korea fears that North Korea could use the water of the dam as a weapon during a violent conflict.

A 2004 Pentagon report on China’s military capacity raises the concept of Taipei adopting military systems capable of being used as a tool for deterring Chinese military coercion by “presenting credible threats to China’s urban population or high-value targets, such as the Three Gorges Dam.” China promptly denounces “a U.S. suggestion’ that Taiwan’s Military target the Three Gorges dam, leading the US to deny that it had so urged.

In an act to protest the destruction of fisheries from uncontrolled water pollution, fishermen in northern Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, dam a large industrial wastewater canal for 23 days. The wastewater discharges into the neighboring Shengze Town, Jiangsu Province, killing fish and threatening public health.

Conflicts over excessive water withdrawals and subsequent water shortages from China’s Zhang River have been worsening for over three decades between villages in Shenxian and Linzhou counties. In the 1970s, militias from competing villages fight over withdrawals. (See also entries for 1976, 1991, 1992, and 1999.)

A local militia chief is shot to death in a clash over the damming of Zhang River. Conflicts over excessive water withdrawals and subsequent water shortages from China’s Zhang River have been worsening for over three decades. (See also entries for 1970, 1991, 1992, 1999.)