I had not read your exchange with margouillat.  I never said that Tibet was all about water.  And I quite specifically said that "I am still trying to understand it" and that these were only "guesses".

But thanks for your information, which as always is very helpful.

Lesson learned (again): when coming across new information, first search to see if it has been discussed on EuroTrib before posting it anew.

While I'm persuaded that water scarcity is probably not a major factor behind Chinese government/media hysteria with respect to the Dalai Lama, I wonder, is it conceivable that the increasingly dire water shortage could give an endorheic basin, provided that it is large enough, significant value in the eyes of the Chinese government?

More than its value as a buffer region with India, I believe what is more important, now, is Tibet's potential as a powerful symbolic precedent for Tibetans in provinces outside the TAR and for Uighurs in Xinjiang.  Also, securing Tibet -- which, as Zwackus pointed out, off and on has been represented a rival pole to China for more than a thousand years -- represents a securing and reaffirmation of Chinese identity and Chinese "integrity", in the eyes of Chinese who see themselves as victims of over a century of foreign meddling, despoliation, and abuse.  On top of that, the government has become a victim of its own propaganda: any concessions to "secessionist" demands now would not only look weak and insult Chinese national pride, but it would sow doubt and suspicion about the government's -- and media's, and schools' -- grasp on history, and reality.