China on Friday rejected reports in India suggesting that the dam it is building upstream on the Brahmaputra river was causing its lower reaches to dry up, and reiterated its commitment to Indian officials that it had neither embarked on any diversion projects nor built any large dams in Tibet.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters that China had not developed any new projects, besides the Zangmu dam on the river's middle reaches, work on which began in 2010 and which is a run-of-the-river project that would have minimal impact downstream.