In the era of accelerating global climate change, freshwater is increasingly becoming a strategic and contested resource. Few regions illustrate this more clearly than Tibet: the source of some of the world’s most important rivers that sustain nearly half of the global population. This lecture will explore the emotional dimensions of water politics in China–India relations, focusing on the narratives of pride, anger, fear, and national identity regarding the Himalayan region and shared river systems. Moreover, the lecture will shed light on how the 75-year territorial dispute between the world’s two most populous countries is intrinsically intertwined with the emerging conflict over water security. Finally, the presenter will assess the role of emotions in possible future trajectories in China–India relations and beyond.

Dr Antonina Luszczykiewicz-Mendis is an educator, author, and commentator on China–India relations and Indo-Pacific affairs. She is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford China Centre. Antonina previously served as a Fulbright senior scholar at Indiana University in the United States. A former Taiwan fellow of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (ROC), she was also a Confucius Institute scholar at Xi’an Jiaotong University in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and a Kosciuszko fellow in the United States. She is an assistant professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies in Slovakia, and an associate fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. She received her graduate education and research training at the Jagiellonian University and the University of Cambridge.