Sino-Bangladesh relations: Scopes and existing challenges

Approximately 24 billion dollars worth deals were signed during the visit, making it the biggest ever assistance pledged to Bangladesh by any single country

Part-II

Far from the traditional Chinese heartlands north of the Yangzi River, the southwestern region is a world away from Beijing and Shanghai. The region is one of the fastest growing regions of China, although it suffers from distant Chinese seaport links because of its landlocked geography. This area has a population of nearly 200 million (20 crore) people and includes major cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Kunming. The region has an increasing desire for high quality goods and services, which may well be exported from Bangladesh if such agreements are reached between Bangladesh and China.

As mentioned earlier, this part of China can be reached by land route from Bangladesh via Myanmar, for (i) export purposes and (ii) for seaport access. It would be more advantageous for Bangladesh and China if India agrees to work on the proposed BCIM corridor, making the route from Bangladesh to China easier and shorter and also enabling India to gain from the arrangement too.
Coming back to the Chinese president’s visit to Bangladesh, approximately 24 billion dollars worth deals were signed during the visit, making it the biggest ever assistance pledged to Bangladesh by any single country. A large part of this assistance is pledged for infrastructural development of Bangladesh. Since the economy of the country is emerging faster, Bangladesh needs huge infrastructure buildup and, no doubt, this well-timed approach for assistance from China has given Bangladesh something to work on in order to progress further. 
China would be further encouraged to develop more infrastructures in Bangladesh if and when the BCIM-EC initiative becomes a done deal among the relevant countries. As China would be developing the infrastructure of BCIM countries for its own economy’s sake, such voluntary infrastructure-buildup would help progress the growing economy of Bangladesh.
With the world’s second largest textile industry and an overall booming export sector, Bangladesh now requires adequate maritime infrastructures. Since its economy is growing at a faster rate and also emerging in the global economic scenario loudly, a deep seaport is the most desired and required maritime infrastructure for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has never built a new seaport since its independence from Pakistan 45 years ago. The geopolitical competition among China, India, Japan and the US has left Bangladesh struggling so far regarding its desire for a deep seaport. The competitors have been making efforts to secure each of their own geopolitical interests and to keep others at bay. Although efforts were made from Bangladesh to proceed with a deep sea port in either of Sonadia, Matarbari and Payra, the geopolitics surrounding the Indian Ocean region has always let the efforts go into ruins.
In 2014, Bangladesh was about to sign an agreement with China regarding construction of a deep seaport in Sonadia during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China. For various geopolitical reasons, Bangladesh had to step back from taking the move and refrained from signing any such deal. Thus, understandably, there was less focus on the deep seaport issue on this Friday’s visit of Chinese President, although there may well have been some serious backdoor discussion over the issue. The visit by the president of world’s new superpower China, which is the second largest economy in the world, portrays the confidence on the part of China over the security issues of Bangladesh. The willingness to initiate the process of big projects (by signing framework agreements, memorandum of understanding and done-deals) is the clear indication of China’s implicit acceptance regarding a “stable, secure and business friendly environment” in Bangladesh. Had China doubted Bangladesh’s security situation, it would not have proceeded for the commercial deals. Surely such acceptance of a business friendly atmosphere in Bangladesh by the world’s second largest economy paves the way for other economies around the world to come into comfort with the business environment in Bangladesh, which was thought to be unfavorable after the incident in Holey Artisan. This new development would again make other economies perceive Bangladesh as an ideal destination for foreign direct investment. This, without doubt, is one of the major positive impacts of the Chinese president’s visit in Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pointed out that the relations between Bangladesh and China are underpinned by the five principles: (i) peaceful co-existence, (ii) spirit of good neighbourliness, (iii) mutual trust (iv) confidence, and (v) non-interference into each other's internal affairs. These principles would ensure China’s strict respect towards Bangladesh’s sovereignty and China’s non-interference approach to internal issues of Bangladesh. In line with this policy, China would help Bangladesh with loans and infrastructure building projects ‘without’ any ‘political strings’ attached. Such Chinese non-interference approach would give Bangladesh enough flexibility to work for immediate economic development. 
Regarding the deep seaport issue, Bangladesh must make a sincere and diehard effort by bringing all the stakeholders on board into a formal discussion-platform and seek for their sincere and serious approach (as well as engagement) in resolving the issue. The sooner Bangladesh settles the issue, the better for its economy and also for the “vision 2021” & “vision 2041” of the current government.
The contentious relationship between China and India has been troubling their small regional neighbours. While the two giant Asian neighbours fought a war in 1962 apart from the border-area conflicts that happened in intervals regarding border-disputes, their current-day rivalry has extended beyond such land-border disputes. Besides rivaling at economic fronts, their geopolitical dispute regarding the control over the Indian Oceanic region has reached the peak. Keeping this rivalry in mind, Bangladesh and other neighbours must make their moves without antagonizing any of these two Asian economic giants. However, the good part is that both China and India have been cooperating with each other in other areas and under various multilateral platforms, including in BRICS bloc, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank (AIIB). Such cooperation creates hopes for countries like Bangladesh. If the stakeholder countries – such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar – work for reducing the mistrust between China and India, it would become easier for these smaller stakeholder countries to cooperate with both of these Asian giants without antagonizing either of the two.
Such abovementioned China-India greater cooperation (if happens) would pave the way for making the BCIM-EC initiative a reality. Bangladesh and Myanmar must, therefore, hasten for achieving such China-India cooperation. Bangladesh and Myanmar has a lot to gain from this initiative. Since Bangladesh and Myanmar would be able to access the markets in India’s seven Northeast states and China’s Yunnan province through the BCIM-EC, Bangladesh and Myanmar would become a lucrative destination for foreign direct investment. Bangla­desh, which is situation in between Southern Asia and Southeast Asia, may export its typical local products into the two big BCIM countries (China and India) that are big enough to consume them in no time. 
Therefore, Bangladesh and Myanmar should leave no effort in reducing the China-India mistrust so that this multilateral platform becomes a reality.

Concluded
 
The writer, primarily associated with law practice, is a law based researcher and an international affairs columnist. He teaches law at DCLE (centre of University of London)

Sino-Bangladesh relations: Scopes and existing challenges

Approximately 24 billion dollars worth deals were signed during the visit, making it the biggest ever assistance pledged to Bangladesh by any single country

Part-II Far from the traditional Chinese heartlands north of the Yangzi River, the southwestern region is a world away from Beijing and Shanghai. The region is one of the fastest growing regions of China, although it suffers from distant Chinese seaport links because of its landlocked geography. This area has a population of nearly 200 million (20 crore) people and includes major cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Kunming. The region has an increasing desire for high quality goods and services, which may well be exported from Bangladesh if such agreements are reached between Bangladesh and China. As mentioned earlier, this part of China can be reached by land route from Bangladesh via Myanmar, for (i) export purposes and (ii) for seaport access. It would be more advantageous for Bangladesh and China if India agrees to work on the proposed BCIM corridor, making the route from Bangladesh to China easier and shorter and also enabling India to gain from the arrangement too. Coming back to the Chinese presidents visit to Bangladesh, approximately 24 billion dollars worth deals were signed during the visit, making it the biggest ever assistance pledged to Bangladesh by any single country. A large part of this assistance is pledged for infrastructural development of Bangladesh. Since the economy of the country is emerging faster, Bangladesh needs huge infrastructure buildup and, no doubt, this well-timed approach for assistance from China has given Bangladesh something to work on in order to progress further. China would be further encouraged to develop more infrastructures in Bangladesh if and when the BCIM-EC initiative becomes a done deal among the relevant countries. As China would be developing the infrastructure of BCIM countries for its own economys sake, such voluntary infrastructure-buildup would help progress the growing economy of Bangladesh. With the worlds second largest textile industry and an overall booming export sector, Bangladesh now requires adequate maritime infrastructures. Since its economy is growing at a faster rate and also emerging in the global economic scenario loudly, a deep seaport is the most desired and required maritime infrastructure for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has never built a new seaport since its independence from Pakistan 45 years ago. The geopolitical competition among China, India, Japan and the US has left Bangladesh struggling so far regarding its desire for a deep seaport. The competitors have been making efforts to secure each of their own geopolitical interests and to keep others at bay. Although efforts were made from Bangladesh to proceed with a deep sea port in either of Sonadia, Matarbari and Payra, the geopolitics surrounding the Indian Ocean region has always let the efforts go into ruins. In 2014, Bangladesh was about to sign an agreement with China regarding construction of a deep seaport in Sonadia during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit to China. For various geopolitical reasons, Bangladesh had to step back from taking the move and refrained from signing any such deal. Thus, understandably, there was less focus on the deep seaport issue on this Fridays visit of Chinese President, although there may well have been some serious backdoor discussion over the issue. The visit by the president of worlds new superpower China, which is the second largest economy in the world, portrays the confidence on the part of China over the security issues of Bangladesh. The willingness to initiate the process of big projects (by signing framework agreements, memorandum of understanding and done-deals) is the clear indication of Chinas implicit acceptance regarding a stable, secure and business friendly environment in Bangladesh. Had China doubted Bangladeshs security situation, it would not have proceeded for the commercial deals. Surely such acceptance of a business friendly atmosphere in Bangladesh by the worlds second largest economy paves the way for other economies around the world to come into comfort with the business environment in Bangladesh, which was thought to be unfavorable after the incident in Holey Artisan. This new development would again make other economies perceive Bangladesh as an ideal destination for foreign direct investment. This, without doubt, is one of the major positive impacts of the Chinese presidents visit in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pointed out that the relations between Bangladesh and China are underpinned by the five principles: (i) peaceful co-existence, (ii) spirit of good neighbourliness, (iii) mutual trust (iv) confidence, and (v) non-interference into each others internal affairs. These principles would ensure Chinas strict respect towards Bangladeshs sovereignty and Chinas non-interference approach to internal issues of Bangladesh. In line with this policy, China would help Bangladesh with loans and infrastructure building projects without any political strings attached. Such Chinese non-interference approach would give Bangladesh enough flexibility to work for immediate economic development. Regarding the deep seaport issue, Bangladesh must make a sincere and diehard effort by bringing all the stakeholders on board into a formal discussion-platform and seek for their sincere and serious approach (as well as engagement) in resolving the issue. The sooner Bangladesh settles the issue, the better for its economy and also for the vision 2021 vision 2041 of the current government. The contentious relationship between China and India has been troubling their small regional neighbours. While the two giant Asian neighbours fought a war in 1962 apart from the border-area conflicts that happened in intervals regarding border-disputes, their current-day rivalry has extended beyond such land-border disputes. Besides rivaling at economic fronts, their geopolitical dispute regarding the control over the Indian Oceanic region has reached the peak. Keeping this rivalry in mind, Bangladesh and other neighbours must make their moves without antagonizing any of these two Asian economic giants. However, the good part is that both China and India have been cooperating with each other in other areas and under various multilateral platforms, including in BRICS bloc, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank (AIIB). Such cooperation creates hopes for countries like Bangladesh. If the stakeholder countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar work for reducing the mistrust between China and India, it would become easier for these smaller stakeholder countries to cooperate with both of these Asian giants without antagonizing either of the two. Such abovementioned China-India greater cooperation (if happens) would pave the way for making the BCIM-EC initiative a reality. Bangladesh and Myanmar must, therefore, hasten for achieving such China-India cooperation. Bangladesh and Myanmar has a lot to gain from this initiative. Since Bangladesh and Myanmar would be able to access the markets in Indias seven Northeast states and Chinas Yunnan province through the BCIM-EC, Bangladesh and Myanmar would become a lucrative destination for foreign direct investment. Bangladesh, which is situation in between Southern Asia and Southeast Asia, may export its typical local products into the two big BCIM countries (China and India) that are big enough to consume them in no time. Therefore, Bangladesh and Myanmar should leave no effort in reducing the China-India mistrust so that this multilateral platform becomes a reality. Concluded The writer, primarily associated with law practice, is a law based researcher and an international affairs columnist. He teaches law at DCLE (centre of University of London)