kalu_miah
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It's indeed strange and in fact quite presumptuous for Japan to make this offer. A bit like inviting someone to go to your neighbor's house without their permission. But anyway, if it is on the cards, then BD should seriously consider ASEAN membership. China would have no objection - in fact, we can only benefit from diluting the influence of the anti-China 'bloc' (in reality only PH and VN), just as Cambodia is helping us do right now. But conversely, if this is what they anticipate, they may also try to block your candidature. In which case, I hope the other members like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc, can see the benefits of helping to integrate BD into the regional economy, and tell the irredentist duo to get lost.
Its just a matter of time that Bangladesh will become part of ASEAN, but that ASEAN will be led by China in future decades.
Indeed, except for Vietnam and Philippines, rest of ASEAN I am sure will follow China as the leader and eventually reject the West or their lap dog Japan as their alliance partner. You have to watch out for Myanmar though, if they misbehave, China, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia can surround them and give them a big squeeze, the regime is still quite vulnerable. And I believe China needs to start getting involved in affairs of other nations slowly, carefully and imperceptibly, specially in countries like Thailand. Indonesia and Malaysia are our Muslim brothers, so if there is an evolving Sino-Muslim alliance, they will not be able to say no. As you know there is no love lost between the West and Muslims. A Sino-Muslim alliance direction will be beneficial not just in ASEAN, but in Central and West Asia as well.
The vision of future I have is that of a predominant China, leading and sharing the management of
- ASEAN together with Japan and South Korea, once they switch sides from the West towards China and
- Central Asian states together with Russia, so they can integrate this Eurasian Union with the states in the South such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran
- Arab League together with GCC states, so they can integrate not just the Arab states but Muslim North African states as well
The only part of the globe where China will have to compete with the West is Middle and Southern African majority Christian states and a mostly Catholic Latin America who were abused for centuries by European colonial masters as well as the US in more recent decades who treats these countries as their back yard and try to micromanage their affairs.
I will not say anything about India here, because I have a whole thesis on China-India relations, which I will present in a later thread.