Mehjabin Bhanu Rajshahi City Corporation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh needs both the USA and
China. Now, Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal get attention from world powers.
US, UK, China, India and Japan have focused their attention on South Asia,
Bangladesh and ‘Bay of Bengal’. US has shifted its policy from ‘Asia Pacific’
towards ‘Indo Pacific’ to counter China’s ‘BRI’. Both parties want Bangladesh
into their respective blocks.
Bangladesh’s
polices are not towards bipartisan international politics. Bangladesh was an
active member of the ‘Non-Aligned Movement’. Bangladesh has no intention and
interest to join any bloc. But Bangladesh has the intention to be benefitted
from the blocs. Bangladesh wants and believes in peaceful coexistence in the
region. It always avoids any kind of clash with any actor. Despite having
provocation from Myanmar during the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, it
abstained from using any kind of force. Bangladesh knows the Strategy. Bangladesh
is balancing successfully with ‘BRI’ and ‘IPS’. Whether Bangladesh is involved in the US-led
Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) or the Chinese-led Belt and Road (BRI), it must
maintain peace and the rule of law in the region to reap the maximum economic benefits
from these.
Bangladesh still believes in the
‘relevance’ of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), State Minister for Foreign
Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said at the summit in Venezuela in 2016. NAM was set
up during the Cold War era as an association of countries that did not wish to
take sides with either the US or the Soviet Union. Basically, Bangladesh wasn’t
to take sides either the US or the Soviet Union. But after the demise of the
USSR, the present USA-China rivalry remembers the past. The participation of
Bangladesh in the 18th summit of the multilateral forum Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) held in Baku of Azerbaijan in 2019 further strengthened the country’s
position in the international arena. Bangladesh’s position in the international
arena is neutral.
In this regard, Bangladesh is
handling this issue tactically. It avoids its involvement with the blocs
directly. Having request from the US for years, Bangladesh didn’t show any
interest to sign the ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) and GSOMIA
(General Security of Military Information Agreement) agreement with the US. On
the other hand, When the Chinese Envoy to Bangladesh commented that Bangladesh
shouldn’t join IPS last year, Bangladesh strongly protested against the remarks
uttered by the Chinese envoy saying Bangladesh is capable to form its own
national policy.
Bangladesh wants and believes in peaceful coexistence in the region. Whether
Bangladeshis are involved in the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) or the
Chinese-led Belt and Road (BRI), it must maintain peace and the rule of law in
the maritime region to reap the maximum economic benefits.
But US may target Bangladesh because
Bangladesh is an active partner of the Chinese BRI project. Recent sanctions on
Bangladesh RAB are the clear-cut example to understand it. But the US should
understand that Bangladesh is also with the USA.
The USA is the main export
destination of Bangladeshi garments. Bangladesh also believes in the US’s ‘Free
and open Indo pacific strategy. Bangladesh needs both the USA and China
simultaneously for its development process. It is pertinent to mention that
Bangladesh wants to be a welfare state in South
Asia. Its economic success is now
praiseworthy. Thus, it needs both the USA, China, EU for ensuring the pace of
the rapid economic growth. The US shouldn’t be worried about Bangladesh.
Bangladesh strongly believes in friendship with all.
According to the various open
sources, Bangladesh is America’s main ally in South Asia. The two countries
have extensive cooperation in regional and global security, counter-terrorism
and climate change. Bangladesh is an important participant in the Obama
administration’s major international development initiatives, including food
security, healthcare and the environment. In 2012, a strategic dialogue
agreement was signed between the two countries. In 2015, US Ambassador to
Bangladesh Marcia Bernikat described the relationship as “vibrant,
multifaceted and essential”. As of 2016, Bangladesh is the largest
recipient of US assistance in Asia outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The
US-Bangladesh relationship is strengthened by the Bangladeshi American
community. Fazlur Rahman Khan designed the United States’s tallest tower in
Chicago.
According to the data of the US State Department and US
Embassy to Bangladesh, the United States is the largest export market in
Bangladesh. The United States is one of the largest sources of foreign direct
investment in Bangladesh. The largest American investment in the country is
Chevron, which produces 50% of Bangladesh’s natural gas. Bilateral trade in
2014 was the US $ 6 billion. The major US exports to Bangladesh are
agricultural products (soybean, cotton, wheat, dairy products), aircraft,
machinery, engines and iron and steel products. American imports from
Bangladesh include clothing, footwear and textile products; Toys, games and
sporting goods; Shrimp and shrimp; And agricultural products. There are many
Bangladeshi students in U.S. universities. The United States has assisted Bangladesh
during cyclone relief operations in 1991 and 2007 In 2017, U.S. direct
investment in Bangladesh was $460 million, an increase of 0.4 per cent from
2016. Bangladesh’s exports to the US were valued at $9.4 billion between
January and October last year. Bangladesh and the United States belong
to a number of the same international organizations, including the
United Nations, ASEAN Regional Forum, International Monetary Fund, World Bank,
and World Trade Organization. According to the media reports, the American
government also donated $218 million as Covid-19 donations alongside 28 million
vaccines. In addition, a US company has signed an agreement with Bangladesh to
install the undersea submarine cable at a cost of $700 million to $1 billion by
2023 that will connect France via Singapore.
On
the other hands, though China and Bangladesh shared an adversarial relationship
during the latter’s independence movement and immediately after that, the
relationship has undergone a tremendous transformation to the extent that China
is now considered by many in Bangladesh as an ‘all-weather friend’. They
established diplomatic ties in 1976; it was defence ties that was an important
area of their relationship, which led to further expansion of ties.
China,
the largest economy in Asia, has decided recently to grant duty-free access to
98% of Bangladeshi products through the inclusion of 383 new products,
especially leather and leather goods, in the zero-treatment list.
According
to the media reports, Over the past 46 years, the relationship between China
and Bangladesh has been developing, with mutual cooperation and friendship on
both sides. In the international arena, Bangladesh has, to the best of its
capacity, maintained unwavering support for the “One China Policy” and
China’s peaceful rise.
According to data of various media outlets, from
January to July 2021, the overall import and export volume of China and
Bangladesh was $13 billion, a rise of 58.9 percent year on year. China has
become Bangladesh’s largest trading partner, and Bangladesh is China’s third
largest trading partner and third largest engineering contracting market in
South Asia. Although there is trade deficit between the two trade ties, China
should consider this. Bangladesh is an important participant in China’s Belt
and Road Initiative and one of the first countries to respond to China’s Belt
and Road Initiative. Although bilateral trade favors
China heavily, Bangladesh has enormous potential in the Chinese markets.. Affected by the
favorable policy of the official entry into force of the zero-tariff treatment
of 98% of Bangladesh’s tariff items exported to China, Bangladesh’s exports to
China may show a growth in 2022.
On
October 14, 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Bangladesh on a historic
visit. During that visit, China announced huge investments in various sectors
of Bangladesh. The implementation of those investment projects is now in full
swing. Among the ongoing projects are the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project,
Karnafuli Tunnel, Dhaka-Chittagong Highway Four Lane Upgradation, Payra Port
Development, Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Railway Project, Power Grid Network
Strengthening Project, Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway, Dhaka-Sylhet Four
Lane Highway etc.
During
the Corona period, China showed that the ‘friend of danger is the real friend’.
During the covid-19 pandemic, China has shown that the ‘friend in need is a
friend indeed, and at this time, China has bound Bangladesh with the belief
that ‘the boats of love sails mountain’. The country once again extended a
helping hand to Bangladesh when vaccination diplomacy was in dire straits to
get the coronavirus vaccine. China has given 1.2 million vaccines to Bangladesh
in two phases as a gift and has assured that the country will supply tens of
millions of vaccines to Bangladesh step by step commercially. It is expected
that China will soon start vaccination production in a joint venture with
Bangladesh in addition to supplying vaccines. The two countries are also
discussing this. Lee Jimming, the country’s ambassador to Dhaka, said that the
friend of danger is the real friend. Bangladesh will remember this friendship
with China. The Bangladesh Army has been equipped with Chinese tanks, its navy
has Chinese frigates and missile boats and the Bangladesh Air Force flies
Chinese fighter jets. In 2002, China and Bangladesh signed a “Defence
Cooperation Agreement” which covers military training and defence
production.
In
the line with the above-mentioned discussions, we can say that Bangladesh needs
both China and USA. Despite having various challenges, Bangladesh is going to
be a South Asian economic miracle and a welfare state in South Asia. Thus, it
is the moral responsibility of both China and the USA to cooperate with
Bangladesh. Bangladesh wants to coexist with all actors in the regions. The
rise of Bangladesh in South Asia is very peaceful. It believes in perpetual
peace. Of course, to achieve the ultimate goal, Bangladesh needs both USA and
China.
