Dhaka sees US, China initiatives ‘complementary’ for Bangladesh

Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative are “complementary” for Bangladesh from the “development” point of view, the state minister for foreign affairs has said.

Those initiatives are being seen by the analysts as strategic competition between the United States and China.

“Bangladesh is primarily looking at those initiatives from a development point of view,” Md Shahriar Alam said while speaking at a panel discussion on the first day of the ‘Dhaka Global Dialogue’ on Monday.

India’ ruling BJP’s General National Secretary Ram Madhav, however, sees China’s Belt and Road Initiative as a “debt trap” for countries.

Veerle Nouwens, a research fellow of the British security and defence think-tank Royal United Services Institute, said both can “co-exist”.

The government think-tank Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), and India's Observer Research Foundation (ORF) are jointly organising the three-day dialogue which is first of its kind.

‘Growth, development and Indo-Pacific’ is the theme of the dialogue that drew over 150 international participants for the keynote presentations, panel discussions, speed talks and live casts.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the dialogue and said the present century is being considered as the ‘Century of Asia’ in terms of socio-economic development and prosperity. “As a result, peace and harmony must be maintained for the prosperity of the region.''

The United States is pursuing Indo-Pacific Strategy in the region which is being seen by analysts as a policy to contain Chinese influence.

The state minister in the panel discussion said the countries that fall within the two initiatives need to play “smarter” and need to be “very careful” as things evolve.

WHAT IS BRI?

Bangladesh joined the BRI or Belt and Road Initiative during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Dhaka in 2016. The initiative aims to rebuild the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond through massive infrastructural spending.

However, the initiative has been the subject of controversy in many western capitals, particularly Washington, which views it as merely a means to spread Chinese influence abroad and trap countries into debt through “nontransparent” projects.

India did not join the BRI, citing concerns over China’s projects with Pakistan.

The BRI promises to deliver physical and soft infrastructure to foster connectivity and economic development across its corridor.

The two-way trade between Bangladesh and China is $16.4 billion in 2017, with an average annual growth rate of about 20 percent since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1975.

It is heavily in favour of China. China's direct investment in Bangladesh was $228 million in 2018.

Through the BRI, China intends to engage in the global economy mainly through investments in infrastructure.

A number of measures have been rolled out to materialise the ideas in Bangladesh. During his visit to Bangladesh, President Xi promised about $40 billion investment in Bangladesh - $24.45 in bilateral assistance for infrastructure projects and $13.6 billion in joint ventures.

In addition, $20 billion in loan arrangements was committed.

WHAT IS IPS?

The Indo-Pacific Strategy is seen as crafted by Washington to counter Chinese ‘String of Pearls’ which is a geopolitical theory on potential Chinese intentions to create a network of Beijing’s military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan in the Horn of Africa.

The sea lines run through several major maritime points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centers in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia.

The US side, however, maintained that the IPS plays a ‘central role’ in American foreign policy and is not a direct response to China's Belt and Road initiative.

It is the whole-of-government approach “to boost US-Indo-Pacific relations, and to protect and advance our shared principles at a time when the region faces new challenges and opportunities.”

It also supports “a free and open Indo-Pacific in which sovereign and independent nations like Bangladesh can prosper in freedom and peace”.

INDIA’S CONCERN

India which did not join the BRI has its own concerns. The ruling BJP leader, Ram Madhav, said: “We are not against countries coming up with new ideas. But there have to be collective idea. Country like Bangladesh should come forward it’s not about in leading and championing new ideas, it's about taking a more proactive role in collective ideas.”

“It’s not just forcing the 198 countries to follow (your idea),” he said, indicating Chinese policy. “A new rule based partnership has to be something that has stakeholdership as the basis”.

“If counties are pushed into debt trap, how do you expect those countries achieve SDGs or other goals. We have to be careful and have to have a system in place in this regard.”

“The new cold war is emerging. And the 21st century cold war probably would be fought in the Indian Ocean region,” he said, indicating the strategic completion between the US and China in the region.

BOTH CAN CO-EXIST

Veerle Nouwens, the British research fellow, however, said both can “co-exists”.

 “It’s not necessarily antagonistic or mutually exclusive. They can both co-exists at the same time,” she said.

Rather, she said, all should make sure all these investments flooding in the region are “sustainable and impact local communities in the best way possible and economically viable.”

“If we can work together on specific projects, we can work on parallel projects side by side,” she said.

The Dhaka Global Dialogue aims to be a flagship forum to catalyse conversations regarding the emerging regional and global politico-economic order in the Indo-Pacific.

It is focusing on discovering a human-first growth and development policy paradigm for the region.