When silence speaks: China, India, and the limits of securitization on the Brahmaputra

The article offers a deep theoretical critique of securitization theory, particularly speech-act, as applied to India–China water disputes over the Brahmaputra river. Despite strategic stakes, neither China nor India has discursively securitized the river. We argue that securitization theory fails to account for the strategic, coercive, and infrastructural dynamics shaping China’s upstream control. Drawing from hydro-hegemony theory (Zeitoun & Warner), deterrence theory (Schelling), and critical infrastructure studies (Larkin, Cowen), we show how China’s dam-building and control of hydrological data serve as tools of power beyond securitization. This framework is contrasted with the now-suspended Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan which underscores the fragility of normative assumptions in securitization theory. We conclude that future transboundary water politics are likely to be governed by silent coercive leverage and deterrence, challenging the existing security paradigms and calling for new frameworks to address these latent conflicts.