{"id":121408,"date":"2021-12-22T17:18:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T00:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121408"},"modified":"2021-12-22T17:18:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T00:18:04","slug":"sri-lanka-can-follow-bangladeshs-act-of-balancing-capability-in-the-strategically-significant-bay-of-bengal-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/22\/sri-lanka-can-follow-bangladeshs-act-of-balancing-capability-in-the-strategically-significant-bay-of-bengal-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Can Follow Bangladesh\u2019s Act Of \u2018Balancing Capability\u2019 In The Strategically Significant \u2018Bay of Bengal’ Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nname ‘Bay of Bengal’ is a book of pride for Bengalis! Large cities like Madras\n(Chennai), Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar in all areas or states, are located on the\nshores of the Bay of Bengal, but the sea is not named after them. Again, it was\nnot named after a region like the Arabian Sea, but after Bengal or Bengal. That\nis why the world has to remember the name of Bengal from time to time. In the\nmiddle of Myanmar, Andaman Islands, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the\nvast territory of South India, the reservoir of 21 lakh 62 thousand square\nkilometers is named after Bengal. It is known in the world as the Bay of Bengal.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBay of Bengal has now become the center of international politics due to its\neconomic and strategic importance but in fact it extends to the bottom of Sri\nLanka. It is the busiest international shipping route in the world. About\n40,000 ships ply this route each year. Half of the world’s goods and fuel\nvessels use this route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking\nat the picture of the Bay of Bengal, it is clear that its all-northern boundary\nhas formed a parallel belt. It is as if a country has a water map in its\ntaxpayer and has extended its exterior. The two sides on the outside have\ngradually increased and ended in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. On the\nother side, the Andaman Islands merge with Sumatra from Myanmar and turn right\nto join Sri Lanka. Cox’s Bazar, the largest beach in the world, the Sundarbans,\nthe largest uninterrupted mangrove forest, and one of the world’s most\ndelicious fish species, the habitat of hilsa is linked and associated with Bay\nof Bengal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nports on the shores of the Bay of Bengal bear the imprint of political,\nreligious and economic tensions over the centuries. From ancient times to the\nMiddle Ages, Arab traders and missionaries flocked to the port on the shores of\nthe Bay of Bengal via the Arabian Sea. After the discovery of the Bay of Bengal\nby Vasco-da Gama, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English companies\nstarted coming from Europe. They built their company’s offices and forts on the\nshores of the Bay of Bengal. From this time the conflict between the European\nmerchants and the Indian kings began. Towards the end of this conflict, the British\nEast India Company built their two and a half hundred-year empire in India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nBay of Bengal gets attention from world powers. US, UK, China, India, Japan has\nfocused their attention to \u2018Bay of Bengal\u2019. That is the strategy. US has\nshifted its policy from \u2018Asia Pacific\u2019 towards \u2018Indo Pacific\u2019 to counter the\nChina\u2019s \u2018BRI\u2019. Both parties want Bangladesh into their respective blocks. In\nthis regard, Bangladesh is handling this issue tactically. It avoids its\ninvolvement with the blocs directly. Having request from US for years,\nBangladesh didn\u2019t show any interest to sign ACSA (Acquisition and\nCross-Servicing Agreement) and GSOMIA (General Security of Military Information\nAgreement) agreement with US. On the other hands, When Chinese Envoy to\nBangladesh commented that Bangladesh shouldn\u2019t join IPS this year, Bangladesh\nstrongly protested against the remarks uttered by Chinese envoy saying\nBangladesh is capable to form its own national policy. This is the capability\nof Bangladesh. Basically, Bangladesh doesn\u2019t like any controversy with anyone.\nIts aim is very simple and clear which is friendship to all, malice to none.\nBangladesh wants and likes to go ahead with all regional and global actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\npolicy is not towards bi-partisan international politics. Bangladesh was an\nactive member of \u2018Non-Aligned Movement\u2019. Bangladesh has no intention and\ninterest to join any block. But Bangladesh has intention to be benefitted from\nthe blocks. Bangladesh wants and believes peaceful coexistence in the region.\nIt always avoids any kind of clash with any actor. Despite having the\nprovocation from Myanmar during the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, it was\nabstained from using any kind of force. Bangladesh knows the Strategy.\nBangladesh is balancing successfully with \u2018BRI\u2019 and \u2018IPS\u2019. Bangladesh has been\nexploiting \u2018the strategic significance of Bay of Bengal\u2019. Bangladesh <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether\nBangladesh is involved in the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) or the\nChinese-led Belt and Road (BRI), it must maintain peace and the rule of law in\nthe maritime region to reap the maximum economic benefits from the Bay of\nBengal. Bangladesh needs to acquire natural resources as well as the ability to\ncatch fish from the deep sea. If it is possible, it will open the way for Bangladesh\nto earn huge amount of foreign exchange just like fish and mineral garments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nport plays an important role for connectivity. Bangladesh has three seaports.\nBut due to depth constraints, large vessels (mother vessels) are still unable\nto accommodate. The establishment of a deep seaport at Matarbari in Cox\u2019s bazar\nin collaboration with Japan will solve this problem as well as reduce the cost\nof transporting goods. According to the reports of Bangladeshi media outlets, Bangladesh\ntrades about 9 thousand crore dollars a year by sea. Four and a half thousand\nforeign ships transport these imported and exported goods to Bangladesh. And Bangladesh\nhas to pay about 900 crore dollars every year for the charter of these ships.\nBangladesh has only 60 ships to transport goods at sea. In this case,\nBangladesh has a serious shortage of capacity. Bangladesh needs to increase its\ncapability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsea border of Bangladesh is 1 lakh 18 thousand square kilometers. On the other\nhand, if all the rivers and haors (some kind of pond originated from and\nconnected with rivers) of Bangladesh are added, it stands at 15,000 kilometers.\nBangladesh needs training, education and infrastructure to increase its ability\nto extract resources from this vast ocean. At present Bangladesh has Maritime\nUniversity, Oceanographic Department and Oceanographic Research Center. These\ninstitutions should also come forward to expand education in this sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug\nsmuggling, piracy in the Malacca Strait, pollution from ships or land are\ndestroying the marine environment. Effective steps can be taken to address\nthese crises jointly through BIMSTEC, SAARC and ASEAN. Bangladesh has made\nchanges in the Maritime Act of 1974. Marine Economy Cell has been formed.\nBesides, maritime economy action plan has been adopted. Bangladesh wants to\njoin \u2018Colombo Security Conclave\u2019 now. Its aim is to tackle the maritime threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan\nattaches great importance to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Bangladesh is\none of the partners of Japan’s Big-B initiative around the Bay of Bengal. Under\nthis, Matarbari in Maheshkhali will be turned into a hub for import and export\nof electricity and energy, industry and sea. The Rohingya crisis could lead to\ninstability in the region. So, Japan should can play a significant role in case\nof the repatriation of Rohingya, which is a sustainable solution to this\ncrisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBay of Bengal was historically important. Due to geopolitics, its importance\nhas increased since the last 80’s. Bangladesh is an important player in these\ngeopolitics. The present government was pursuing a policy of maintaining good\nrelations with all Indo-Pacific countries, avoiding conflict. And because of\nthe balance, Bangladesh is an active partner of the US IPS as well as China’s\nBRI. Basically, Bangladesh shows the rest of the countries in the region how to\nbalance with big powers simultaneously. Its balancing capability is really\npraiseworthy and exemplary for many countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUS-Japan-Australia-India formed \u2018QUAD\u2019 to counter China’s \u2018BRI\u2019. Despite\ncompetition over geopolitics, the United States and China are each other’s\nbiggest trading partners. Bangladesh knows and understands this issue. Bangladesh\nshould and must balance with these. Bangladesh needs America and China both for\nensuring its business interest. Strategic significance of Bay of Bengal will\nmake Bangladesh more prosperous in the region. Sri Lankan case is same like\nBangladesh case. Sri Lanka can follow Bangladesh\u2019s case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan The name ‘Bay of Bengal’ is a book of pride for Bengalis! Large cities like Madras (Chennai), Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar in all areas or states, are located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, but the sea is not named after them. Again, it was not named after a region like the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}