Dhaka calls for China’s help in country’s development as PM Hasina accepts invite to visit Beijing

With India-China tensions soaring in the aftermath of Beijing renaming several territories in Arunachal Pradesh on its map, neighbouring Bangladesh has called for Chinese help in developing the relatively underdeveloped southern part of the country.

According to reports in local media, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday sought Chinese cooperation in the matter.

According to The Daily Star, Hasina told Yao Wen, Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka, “I want China to help Bangladesh for further economic development of the region.” Wen had called on her at the Gono Bhaban.

The news report said, quoting PM’s speech writer M Nazrul Islam, that Hasina had told the Chinese envoy that the southern region of the Bangladesh had long suffered neglect and that only the Awami League government had taken any effective steps to extricate the region from backwardness.

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According to the speech writer, Hasina underlined the utility of the road link that had been established with the country’s southern region via the Padma Bridge.

In turn, The Daily Star reported the Chinese ambassador having asked the prime minister for placing specific proposals for the region’s development.

Nazrul, the report added, told reporters that Hasina had accepted an invitation to visit China sometime in July this year.

This development doesn’t augur well for India. The already frazzled China-India ties deteriorated further recently after Beijing renamed several territories inside India on its map, inviting strong reactions from the Indian side.

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Moreover, China has for long been pushing its agenda in Bangladesh, with observers citing Sri Lanka as the example that should deter Dhaka lest it slips into Beijing’s debt trap. Earlier China had asserted that it would stand by
Dhaka in parrying any external influence, an obvious reference to the US, after the latter raised questions over the fairness of general elections in the country.

Additionally, China has exerted its economic control in Bangladesh through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative by establishing the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which aims to integrate the economies of the two countries through regional connectivity.