Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Recently, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China published a directive on measures to "qualitatively develop a weather modification program", which should start working by 2025.

According to the document, this program will be used for:

1) prevention of natural disasters (drought, hail), emergency situations (forest, steppe fires);

2) development of agricultural regions;

3) use in regions where the ecology needs protection or restoration;

4) creating favorable conditions for important events.

According to experts, China makes extensive use of cloud dispersion technologies. For example, before the 2008 Olympic Games, cloud dispersion was carried out to reduce smog and prevent rain from falling during the competition. In 2019, precipitation management helped reduce the devastating effects of hail by 70% in the agriculturally key Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Beijing is actively investing in weather management technology. 2012 to 2019 US$1.34 billion was allocated for such projects. Today, the PRC is developing projects that make it possible to cause snowfall or rain on an area of more than 550 million hectares and to prevent hail over an area of 58 million hectares.

Despite the availability of weather management technologies in leading countries, China is the most likely to use them, which causes concern in India. New Delhi claims that the artificial influence on the weather negatively affects the natural processes in its regions bordering with the PRC.

In addition, amid rising tensions in Sino-Indian relations, Indian experts are concerned that weather management technologies will give China a great advantage in fighting in the mountains, where the movement of troops is highly dependent on weather conditions.

In general, taking into account the development of science and technology in China, experts believe that the country will be able to implement larger-scale geoengineering projects. At the same time, the PRC’s successes in this area may cause tension in its relations with neighboring countries.