Commentary “Free Tibet” has been a rallying cry since communist China’s 1951 occupation, but more is at stake than re-establishing the sovereignty of the Tibetan nation or stopping China’s human rights abuses. The Tibetan land mass, despite its sparse population and remote resources, is one of the most geostrategic on the planet. As goes Tibet, so goes much of South Asia. The 965,000-square-mile region of Tibet—a land area six times that of California—holds the headwaters for 10 major rivers that flow into 10 countries, most of which have disputes with China. China’s control over those rivers gives it the ability to shun water-sharing treaties, to exploit water to its neighbors’ economic detriment, to blackmail its neighbors into acquiescing to China’s whims, and, if need be, to turn the rivers into weapons of war. The Mekong River, one of the world’s largest, provides one example of how China exploits rivers to …