Playing It Big Or A Proxy?: Bangladesh’s Growing Closeness To China – Analysis

[Tripoli]

For an impoverished country like Bangladesh, its total annual expenditure for buying arms in 2015 was a mind boggling figure- more than USD 2 billion.

/

LOL. As if India is heaven. The writer has clearly shown his/her bias.
India is also 'impoverished' but it still spends a huge sum on weapons.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Business...
Yes it is our business.
We have every right to keep an eye on whats happening in our neighborhood and expand our regional influence. If not anything, India-BD share the fifth largest border in the world which also happens to be an open border.


Outside PDF i dont find many BDians talking your language.

The neighborhood belongs to all countries in the region and not just India. India should learn to behave itself before lecturing others.

 

[Tripoli]

The neighborhood belongs to all countries in the region and not just India. India should learn to behave itself before lecturing others.

Don't bother trying to explain it to them. Most Indians are extremely nationalistic and believe that India has some supreme status in south asia which allows it to dictate to smaller countries like Bangladesh,Bhutan and Nepal.

 

[bluesky]

India is a psych and sees China shadow everywhere in Asia. BD being its closest neighbor and inside its belly panics them more when they see a Chinese supply of a few weapons is hindering it from bullying BD, India wants a disarmed BD while it keeps on accumulating weapons.

Things have changed. Gov of SHW is tactfully using India's Tripura connection to accumulate weapons from China and almost all the western countries.

 

[Michael Corleone]

Business...
Yes it is our business.
We have every right to keep an eye on whats happening in our neighborhood and expand our regional influence. If not anything, India-BD share the fifth largest border in the world which also happens to be an open border.


Outside PDF i dont find many BDians talking your language.

It's out sovereign right to buy out things and do business with who ever we want. Go play with Pakistan.

 

[Levina]

As for China - It is understandable, China is a preeminent power and BD will look to play it's card right so that it can extract maximum from China as well as India. Who ever offers more goodies such as finance, connectivity and market access will become dearer to BD. That is how that world works.

Ofcourse!
BD has its bargaining chip too.

But New Delhi should not be dictating what an independent sovereign nation does on a national level. That is what is happening at this time. If you want to further alienate all Bangladeshis, keep playing the 'Dadagiri' game. It is working as intended.

wait!
We as a country want to remain safe and China's presence beyond Himalayas is perilous.
Why do you think America sent its soldiers all the way to Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam?
When somebody feels threatened, they have the right to defend themselves. In this case, it works in India's favour to coerce BD.
Call it being manipulative or whatever but this is how the world works.
BD on its part isnt an angel either, China is your bargaining chip. Its not just BD which uses this tactic, but all our neighboring countries like Srilanka push us to give into their demands.

The neighborhood belongs to all countries in the region and not just India. India should learn to behave itself before lecturing others.

Learn to behave?
Go on explain.

Most Indians are extremely nationalistic and believe that India has some supreme status in south asia which allows it to dictate to smaller countries like Bangladesh,Bhutan and Nepal.

We are not just dictating terms...
we have been working on uniting south Asia!!!
India's satellite 'gift' for SAARC to be up in Dec 2016

 

[extra terrestrial]

I do not like the domestic politics of SHW and her BAL. But, in the international arena her govt has made good relationship with all the big powers who have stakes in the BoB. This include India, who gets a preferential treatment from BD. India is getting transit facilities for its NE and is expanding it with the help of SHW.

India prefers less democracy in BD because it wants SHW to cling to power. India dislikes BKZ because of her Pakistan and S. Arabia-centric policy. But, SHW has to survive with the support from within the country, and not India. So, she has to listen to what the military establishment wants from her. It wants a China-centric policy that can help BD to retain its sovereignty with military hard wares supplied by China.

Well, it's not about only having good relations with everyone, we already have that. Credit would be given when we extract our best interests from these relations. At present what we are basically doing is just keeping everyone happy without gaining anything. The Chinese and Japanese investments in Bangladesh are noway near if you compare them with their investments in ASEAN or even Pakistan (in case of China). The investments should have been quite higher given the current geopolitical scenario.

US remains lukewarm towards Bangladesh, the GSP issue is not going to be resolved anytime soon. With India, I would say the land boundary agreement is perhaps the only highlight but that happened more because of India's own willingness to solve the issue rather than our diplomatic efforts. OTOH, the water sharing of the transboundary rivers remains a major issue, India is quite close to physically starting their river linking project.

IMO, the best performance of our foreign policy has been the relations with Myanmar. I'm personally quite impressed with the efforts the government is putting in improving the relations with our eastern neighbor which is obviously quite essential.

 

[syed1]

another rona dhona

Written by a west bengali, his insecurity is understandable.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Amitava Mukherjee*

In the last week of May 2016, Bangladesh had hosted the Chinese Defence Minister, General Chang Wanguan,in a quiet manner. But, the visit must have raised eyebrows in the corridors of power in New Delhi because it has signaled the possibility of China and Bangladesh serving each other’s strategic and military needs in near future which may go against India’s interests in South Asia.

A subterranean tension between India and Bangladesh over the latter’s foreign policy initiatives exists, but this may get a new dimension after Chang Wanguan’s visit. Welcoming the Chinese Defence Minister, Abdul Hamid, the President of Bangladesh, had said that his country totally supports China so far as the latter’s core interests are concerned including Beijing’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) initiative and its interests in the South China Sea.

Nothing can be more provocative for India as China considers control over the Indian Ocean a matter of core interest and its increasing forays into the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean have raised the prospect of the region’s militarization. Equally interesting is the attitude of the Bangladesh army which is now showing signs of transgressing into areas which are traditionally reserved for political executives in a parliamentary form of government. During his last visit to Beijing, Abu Belal Mohammed Shafiul Huq, the Bangladesh army chief, had not only expressed his desire for training of Bangladesh army personnel by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China but had also talked about broader and deeper cooperation between the armies of China and Bangladesh.

But this is a logical corollary of the strategic relationship that the two countries have built up over the years. China is now Bangladesh’s largest arms supplier. Beijing now supplies arms to 35 countries, and of them, Bangladesh is the second largest customer. This may look a little bit odd given Bangladesh’s small size. But in recent time, Bangladesh was seen in the international arms market on a buying spree. It has purchased helicopters from France, aircrafts from Germany, light helicopters from Italy and armoured personnel carriers from Russia. But it will be wrong to assume that Dhaka’s source of arms purchase is manifold. Eighty two percent of Bangladesh’s total arms purchase comes from China while the corresponding figure for Pakistan, Beijing’s principal pawn in the South Asian strategic chessboard, is only 54 percent. For an impoverished country like Bangladesh, its total annual expenditure for buying arms in 2015 was a mind boggling figure- more than USD 2 billion.

Hasina Wazed’s growing preference for China instead of India in South Asian scenario perhaps stems from her desire for increased Chinese investments in her country. But, in doing so she has exhibited her political immaturity. While on tour in China in June 2014, she entered into various agreements with Beijing which were militarily uncomfortable for India. But after coming back to Dhaka, Hasina announced that she was prepared to condone China’s role during Bangladesh’s liberation war. (China had supported Pakistan when the latter was committing genocide in Bangladesh.) At a stroke this washed away whatever credibility Hasina Wazed used to enjoy with Bangladeshi freedom fighters.

Something strange is there in Bangladesh’s strategic formulation. In April 2015, Dhaka entered into agreements with Moscow for buying six Russian military Mi- 171SH combat transport helicopters and one Mi-171E medium light transport aircraft in spite of the fact that Bangladesh’s military necessity is very limited. Engaging India in any war is out of question for Dhaka. It has a dispute with Myanmar on the Rohingya issue. But, no country goes to war on so minor a problem. So the only explanation is that Bangladesh is repositioning itself on the South Asian strategic map either to play a bigger role or perform the role of a proxy for any big power.

The second postulate becomes stronger by the fact that Bangladesh has handed over to China the task of development and modernization of the Chittagong port. This will give Beijing an excellent base for spreading its influence in the Bay of Bengal- Indian Ocean region. Secondly till a year ago Dhaka had plans to build a deep sea port at the Sonadia island in the Bay of Bengal off Cox Bazar by Chinese finance,technology and administrative control but was forced to abandon the plan under intense US and Indian pressure.

But between 2008 and 2012, Bangladesh purchased from China tanks, anti-ship missiles and fighter aircrafts. Two Chinese submarines, purchased from Beijing at a cost of $ 203 million are expected to join the Bangladesh navy later this year. In addition, Bangladesh has already commissioned two new Chinese frigates in 2014 and its navy has already tested fired automated missiles.

New Delhi is also not very sure about the future trajectory of its relations with Bangladesh. Therefore, it has decided to build a deep sea port at the Sagar Island in West Bengal which will have an advanced post of the Indian Navy and infrastructures for land to ship and surface to air missile bases.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/280620...gladeshs-growing-closeness-to-china-analysis/

A classic example of presstitution.

 

[Anubis]

Well India can get what it wants in BD...as long as it can match China's offer...and I don't see it happening anytime soon...It is not rich enough to match Chinese investments...it does not have weapons to sell...and it is too concerned about the government to concentrate on economy,infrastructure and military of BD...and having a friendly government hasn't scratched China's hold in BD a bit....but China can if it chooses to scratch of India from Bangladesh....it sounds awful but like all countries small and big Bangladesh is for sale.....but the price is too steep for India.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Learn to behave?
Go on explain.

Keep the largest terrorist organization in the region on a leash i.e. RAW. Stop interfering in others internal affairs and creating instability.

 

[Levina]

Keep the largest terrorist organization in the region on a leash i.e. RAW.

Lolz
Sire, I want to know your definition of terrorism.
If RAW is a terrorist organisation then so is every other spy agency maintained by diff countries from CIA,ISI to MI6.

From somebody who happens to be a TTA badge holder I expected a more logical answer. Alas!

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Lolz
Sire, I want to know your definition of terrorism.
If RAW is a terrorist organisation then so is every other spy agency maintained by diff countries from CIA,ISI to MI6.

From somebody who happens to be a TTA badge holder I expected a more logical answer. Alas!

You are probably right there but it is only India that thinks it is superior to everyone else and can boss the neighborhood around ... Since we have accepted RAW to be a terrorist organization then India should have no objection if other intelligence agencies retaliate in kind ...

 

[Razia Sultana]

There is no issue BD growing relations with China for her own interests. India too does a lot of business with Chinese. The concern here is not why BD is buying so much weapons from China but what is the purpose of her defence acquisitions. A nation builds an army to defend her territories and interests. The author has explained in the article that BD has no major disputes with India (nor she can match the fire power of India) nor the issue of Rohingya big enough for a war against Myanmar. BD has no border issues with her neighbours nor she has any issues on nautical boundaries so what is the need for her growing army? What are the threat perceptions of BD? As many Bangladeshi PDF members agree that BD is ready to be a pawn for the highest bidder then it is fair enough for India to anticipate larger designs by some other nation using BD as proxy. As long as BD has a sane leadership its ok but BD is also prone to military coups and ISIS is showing its presence there.
Its strange that nations that talk about sovereignty and rejecting Indian hegemony in South Asia are more than eager to play a pawn in the hands of China.

 

[Levina]

You are probably right there but it is only India that thinks it is superior to everyone else and can boss the neighborhood around ... Since we have accepted RAW to be a terrorist organization then India should have no objection if other intelligence agencies retaliate in kind ...

1. Get your facts right.

2. You and your ilks form just 30% of your country. So I won't take your opinion seriously.

 

[Indika]

There is no issue BD growing relations with China for her own interests. India too does a lot of business with Chinese. The concern here is not why BD is buying so much weapons from China but what is the purpose of her defence acquisitions. A nation builds an army to defend her territories and interests. The author has explained in the article that BD has no major disputes with India (nor she can match the fire power of India) nor the issue of Rohingya big enough for a war against Myanmar. BD has no border issues with her neighbours nor she has any issues on nautical boundaries so what is the need for her growing army? What are the threat perceptions of BD? As many Bangladeshi PDF members agree that BD is ready to be a pawn for the highest bidder then it is fair enough for India to anticipate larger designs by some other nation using BD as proxy. As long as BD has a sane leadership its ok but BD is also prone to military coups and ISIS is showing its presence there.
Its strange that nations that talk about sovereignty and rejecting Indian hegemony in South Asia are more than eager to play a pawn in the hands of China.

True.
Issue India had with bangladesh was due to hosting NE militants with ISI running the show. Other than that India will certainly keep an eye on what bangladesh does militarily thats a norm with neighbors.

Only insecure & immature ppl who cant appreciate others success and cant distinguish between established norms in state security end up using words like dadagiri,hegemony..etc As long as bangladesh does no harm India and its citizens we dont care to give a hoot.