Interesting. This is an acute version of the problem of human farming everywhere, which increasingly requires bringing in large quantities of water in order to cultivate single crops in regions where they have not naturally evolved. As a non-agronomist, I wonder about the possibilities of redistributing water (and energy) in ways that don't simply take resources from your neighbors (as in, e.g., the Himalayan watershed).

I acknowledge the real ability of the current Chinese government for long-term national planning and for solving immediate problems given existing constraints (esp. in transportation). At present, though, this often comes at the expense of other countries (cf. above, and in the China Seas), or of some number of their citizens (for example, summarily forcing illegal migrant laborers out of Beijing as a measure of long-term urban planning).