Bangladesh got liberated from West Pakistan on December 16, 1971. India recognised Bangladesh on December 6, 1971 amidst its independence war. Meanwhile, by the end of February 1972, 34 other countries had also recognised Bangladesh.
However, China, being a strong ally of Pakistan vehemently opposed the Bangladesh’s coming into existence and even vetoed its entry into the United Nations in 1972. China was one of last countries of the world who had recognized Bangladesh. After Pakistan recognised Bangladesh in June 1974, China followed Pakistan and recognised Bangladesh on August 31, 1975. Since then, China is maintaining steady relations with Bangladesh, but with an eye on exploiting strategic location of Bangladesh in the Indian Ocean vicinity.
Significantly, China considered the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahamn on August 15, 1975 as a matter of embarrassment for India and recognised Bangladesh on August 31, 1975, then opened its diplomatic Mission in Dhaka on January 1976. Thereafter, post Mujib regimes pursued pro-China policies for several reasons including China’s consistency in its foreign policy, economic reforms and opening up of Chinese economy, liberalisation in various economic activities, and to have lesser economic and political dependence on India and Bangladeshi military backed regimes quest to follow independent foreign policy to come out from so called Indian shadow.
In Focus
Under military regime of Gen. Ziaur Rahman (1976-1981) China and Bangladesh came closer and Bangladesh started distancing itself from India and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Since then bilateral relations between the two countries started getting strengthening. Relations between the two countries further got boost in January 1977, when Gen. Ziaur Rahman paid a four day official visit to China.
Gen. Ziaur Rahman paid another visit to China in 1980 taking bilateral relations further and promoting economic relations. It was during Gen. Rahman regime that Bangladesh could successfully elicit support from China in early 1977 on the Farakka barrage and sharing of Ganges water issues between Bangladesh and India.
During Gen. Rahman’s regime, Bangladesh got considerable economic support from China and signed a number of agreements, including Trade and Payment Agreement in 1977, shipping agreement in 1978, a long term trade agreement in 1980, besides an economic and technical agreement was signed in March 1978 during the than Chinese vice-premier’s visit to Dhaka, which also stipulated interest free Chinese loan of US$ 59.3 million. China also started giving economic aid to Bangladesh during Gen. Ziaur Rahman’s regime.
After Gen. Ziaur Rahman’s assassination on March 24, 1982, Bangladesh had reliant relations with China under the new military regime of Gen. Ershad (1982-1990). Gen Ershad took Bangladesh’s relations with China to a new height and he visited China five times during his tenure as President between 1982-1992. During Erashad regime, Chinese President Xi Xiannian and Premeir Li Peng also visited China in 1986 and 1989 respectively.
Later, Begum Khaleda Zia, who came into power by dethroning of President Ershad in 1991 and again came into power in 2001 national elections followed foreign policies of her late husband Gen. Ziaur Rahaman including on China. In June 1991, Khaleda Zia paid a three day official visit to China and both the countries signed three agreements on economic and technological cooperation between them. China also donated 200 tractors to Bangladesh during her visit there.
Relations between China and Bangladesh further strengthened when during Khaleda Zia’s regime, the then Chinese Wen Jiabao paid a two day visit to Bangladesh in April 2005 and pledged all out assistance to Bangladesh’s developments efforts. During Wen’s visit, two countries also signed nine agreements including on peaceful use of nuclear energy and direct air link between China and Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Shiekh Hassina who is in office since January 2014 and earlier held office in 1996-2001 and 2001-2006, followed the same policy of consolidation and expansion of relations with China. She also recognized economic cooperation and trade with China as an important aspect of Bangladesh foreign policy.
In June 2014 she paid a six day official visit to China and the two countries signed two agreements and two Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) and two letters of exchange to strengthen mutual cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, power generation, communication and transport and combating natural disasters.
Bangladesh received massive military aid, training, technology and equipment from China. In the year 2002 and 2004 both countries also signed defense cooperation agreements. Bangladeshi armed forces are heavily equipped with Chinese arms and China has emerged as major supplier of arms to the Bangladesh armed forces.
In 2006, China supplied sixty-five artillery guns 114 and related systems to Bangladesh. Bangladesh army has most of Chinese tanks such as T-59, T-62, T-69, T-79, also Chinese armoured personnel carriers (APCs), artillery arms and small arms and personal weapons.
Bangladesh Navy too is heavily made up of Chinese-origin platforms, including 053-H! Jianghu 1 class figates, Huang Feng class and T-024 missile boats, torpedo boats, and surface to air and air to surface missiles. In 2008, Bangladesh also set-up and anti?ship missile launch pad near Chittagong port with the Chinese assistance.
Meanwhile, China too got naval access to Bangladesh’s Chittagong port. In 2013, China has also agreed to sell two Ming class submarines to Bangladesh for US$ 203 million, to be delivered in 2019.
China, with an eye to have its presence in the Bay of Bengal, also agreed to fund ninty-nine per cent of Bangladesh’s the Sonadia islands deep- sea port in Cox Bazar district. The proposed sea port would have 58 jetties with a total length of 11 kilometers and first phase would be completed in 2016 and full developmental work would be finished by the year 2055.
Likewise, Bangladeshi air force is also equipped with Chinese aircraft, prominently, F-7 and A-5 fighter aircraft and T6 and K8 trainer aircraft and Chinese FM90 missile system.
Bangladesh has steady economic relations with China. It is third largest trade partner of China in South Asia. However, huge trade imbalance exists between the two countries and it is in favour of China. However, in the year 2007 China extended an aid of US$ 10.5 million to Bangladesh and ordered US $ 53 million worth of goods to address Bangladeshi concern over huge imbalance of trade between the countries. Their two way trade was merely USD $ 1.14 billion in the year 2003 and Bangladeshi exports to China were to the tune of only USD$ 46 million and its imports from China totalled USD$ 1.8 billion.
However, during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14, Bangladeshi exports to China increased more than four times, from US$ 178 million to US$ 746.19 million. Bangladeshi exports to China also posted a robust of 63 percent growth compared to US$ 458.11 million in 2012-13 to US$ 746.18 million in 2013-14 .
Meanwhile, trade between the two countries soared to US$ 8.3 billion in the financial year ending June 2014, but exports from Bangladesh accounted for less than a tenth of the total. In December 2014, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to Dhaka offered to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries but, so far, Bangladesh did not take any decision on the issue.
Incidentally Bangladesh is world’s second largest garment exporter after China. Bangladesh’s garments exports to China increased to US$ 240 million in the year 2013-14 from less than US$ 10 million in 2009-10. If Bangladesh signs FTA with China, over 4.500 textile and garment factories in the country are bound to get boost.
While Bangladesh mainly exports agricultural and frozen food products, raw jute, leather, garments and jute goods to China, it primarily imports heavy machinery, iron and steel, electronic good, chemicals, vehicles, woven fabrics, arms and ammunition, paper and paper products, edible fruits and vegetables and rubber from China. Also, Bangladesh as a least developed country (LDC) got duty and quota-free access for 4, 788 products to the Chinese market as of July 2010. Bangladesh’s trading list also accounts for 67 per cent of country’s export basket.
With regard to Chinese investments in Bangladesh, till 2010, China did not give much of priority to Bangladesh in this regard. Oddly, China invested only US$ 250 million between a long span of year 1977 to 2019 in Bangladesh. However, in the year 2011 alone, China invested US$ 200 mn in Bangladesh. Notably, China was the third largest investor in Bangladesh after Saudi Arabia and South Korea in the year 2009-2010.
China made major investments in Bangladesh’s service and infrastructure sector, including six China- Bangladesh Friendship bridges and important amongst them was 4.8 km long Mukhterpur bridge over the river Dhaleswari. Meanwhile, construction of two more such Chinese aided bridges was in offing including one at Madaripur. China was also contemplating to invest in Bangladesh’s energy and sea-port sectors and had already invested in twenty companies at different export processing zones of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s foreign policy of ‘Look East’ is essentially to lessen its long term dependence on India, which has facilitated China to open up a number of avenues to increase its trade and economic cooperation with Bangladesh. China’s growing economic and trade relations with Bangladesh is a matter of concern for India as it is losing ground to the China in this field.
Since 2002, China’s trade with Bangladesh has increased many folds as compared to India. India’s exports to Bangladesh are also declining with rapid speed as compared to Chinese exports. China has also succeeded in capturing Bangladeshi market in various products where India had comparative advantage in the past. Since 2005-06 China has also overtaken India’s first position among exporters to Bangladesh. Incidentally, in the year 2012, trade between China and Bangladesh surpassed US$ 8 billion, with an annual increase by 17 per cent in the previous year ,which itself was indicative of Chinese aggressive economic policies in the region.
Meanwhile, China, through its landlocked Yunnan province was seeking greater economic engagements with Bangladesh including connecting Kumning and Chittagong through Myanmar, thus seeking access to Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh’s dependence on China has increased many folds in the recent past which resulted into increase Chinese leverage over relations between the two countries. Primarily, China’s interest in Bangladesh appear economic but given the China’s strategic interests in South Asian region, relations may develop to the extent of causing concern to India, especially keeping in view of Chinese maritime ‘Sting Pearls Policy’ in the region.
China’s strengthening relations with Bangladesh is a part of policy of expanding its relations with India’s neighboring countries. In India it is perceived in some quarters that growing China-Bangladesh relations are designed against India. However, Bangladesh may continue pursuing policy of making best of its relations with both India and China for the betterment of its own economy and developing the country’s infrastructure.
– By S.C. Kohli, merinews.com
