What a transformation the world is witnessing with regard to Bangladesh-China relationship! In 1971, when Bangladesh was fighting against the mighty Pakistani army for independence, China was not only opposed to the creation of the country, but also backing Pakistan government ardently, perhaps due to some geopolitical reason or reasons. Beijing even exercised its veto power to prevent a move by the then Soviet Union and India for Bangladesh to become the member of the United Nations. Of course, China did not oppose the move when Bangladesh eventually became the member of the world body. Even after the independence on December, 1971, it took about four years for China to recognise Bangladesh as an independent country. Bangladesh and China established their diplomatic ties on October 4, 1975, forgetting the animosity of 1971.
But, it did not happen just like this. Both the countries made efforts to establish the relationship realising its importance. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sent two delegations to China – one to buy coal and another to sell jute. China also invited Bangladesh to Canton Fair, a big event organised in China in terms of trade and commerce. The present name of Canton is Guangzhou.
Following the establishment of the diplomatic relationship about 41 years ago, the Dhaka-Beijing relationship did not have to look back.
It has been flourishing ever since in almost all areas like trade, investment, defence, science and technology, agriculture, culture and education. In January 1977, Ziaur Rahman visited China at the invitation of Beijing and in the following year, Chinese Vice Premier Li Xiannian visited Bangladesh. Since then, there have been regular high-level visits by leaders of both the countries to advance the relations. And, in 41 years, the relationship had been transformed to ‘Closer Comprehensive Partnership’ prior to the arrival of the Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. During the official talks on the day between President Xi and Prime Minister Hasina, the relationship was elevated to ‘Strategic Partnership of Cooperation’. This means the existing depth of engagements in terms of socio-economic field, investment and collaboration will be deeper, closer and more substantive. The defence component is not being considered for the time being in the newly elevated strategic partnership. But, given the existing defence cooperation between the two militaries, one may be forgiven to assume that in future this component will feature too.
It is worth mentioning that China is the first country with which Bangladesh officially has strategic partnership. There are components of strategic relationship with India and the United States. But, these are not official.
There is one interesting positive aspect of Bangladesh’s relationship with China. Dhaka’s relations with every country including Delhi and Washington saw ups and downs from time to time. But, one will find very few people who will say that there was ever any problem in the relationship between Dhaka and Beijing.
Regardless of the type of government, be it democratic or autocratic, relationship with China was steady and unaffected. China always dealt equally with the government of the day. That is why, perhaps, the relationship may be called ‘all weather relationship’. Another thing can be mentioned about the perception of the people of Bangladesh about China. There are many people who dislike India and US. But, very few people will be found to say that they dislike China despite Beijing adversary role during our War of Independence. So, there is a consensus among people regarding China which makes the job for the leadership to move the tasks ahead. People’s positive attitude to China may be attributed to the fact that China does not meddle in the internal affairs of Bangladesh and treats Bangladesh as equal with respect. In this regard, remarks of a Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary can be mentioned. During a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister the Bangladeshi Secretary ‘by the by’ said, “We are a poor country.” “No, you are not. We are also developing country like you,” replied the Chinese Foreign Minister. This conversation reflects the positive mind-set of China to Bangladesh.
In last 41 years, Bangladesh engagements with China were steady. China is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh with bilateral trade worth about $ 10 billion. Of course, the trade imbalance is heavily in China’s favour. Beijing has been consistently contributing to Bangladesh’s development. The defence cooperation between Bangladesh and China has already reached an extraordinary height and it is likely to be maintained in the years to come.
The writing of the success story on the Bangladesh-China relationship is far from being complete.
Every indication is that the best is yet to come with the exploration of many new areas of cooperation. During the meeting, President Xi conveyed to Prime Minister Hasina, “We want to walk together to materialise the dreams of peoples of both of our countries.” So, be it.