By Satyaki Chakraborty
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is visiting China on a three day visit beginning June 23, the outcome of which is expected to be of big importance to Bangladesh having special consequences on the relationship with the neighbouring India also.
Bangladesh PM will be visiting Malaysia on June 21 and 22 preceding the China visit. That way Malaysia is the first country to be visited by the Bangladesh Prime Minister after being elected as the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which won the February 12 general elections.
Initially, soon after the elections were over in Bangladesh and the new government under Tarique Rahman took over, Bangladesh gave enough indications about taking immediate steps to improve relations with India which was under tremendous strain during the tenure of the interim head of the government Dr. Mohammad Yunus. Indian PM Narendra Modi congratulated Tarique soon after elections and he was invited to visit India.
It was expected earlier that the new Bangladesh PM would be visiting India first to be followed by his visit to China. But things did not proceed smoothly. Bangladesh foreign ministry was angry at some of the actions by the Indian government in the preceding months. The Bangladesh government gave priority to the PM visit to Beijing before New Delhi. Only last month, Bangladesh foreign minister Khalilur Rahman visited China and had a meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As regards Malaysia, the visit has its importance for the interests of the Bangladesh youth a bulk of whom work in Malaysia and send remittances to their country. Malaysia employs about eight lakh Bangladesh workers accounting for some 37 per cent of its foreign workers in the manufacturing, construction, plantation and agricultural sector. Tarique Rahman is expected to talk about the possibility of more employment of such workers in view of the acute unemployment crisis in the country.
Malaysia visit is regularization of continuing bilateral relations which are going smoothly, But the real focus of Tarique government is making a big success of the China visit and ensure that the relations go to new heights. China is equally reciprocating the gesture of the new Bangladesh government taking into account increasing geo political interests in the region surrounding Bangladesh.
Interim head Dr. Muhammad Yunus visited China in March 2025 and discussed a lot of projects including Teesta Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. The talks were non conclusive. Now Rahman will take forward those talks seeking to impart a wider dimension to the collaboration between the two countries in infrastructure projects including setting up of dams and bridges on rivers.
In Beijing, Rahman is expected to emphasise on infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative while also seeking fresh investment in technology, renewable energy, agriculture and healthcare. There had been talks about Chinese investment in setting up industrial clusters in different districts of the country. This proposal may be given final shape. But the most ambitious project is on Teesta development which was originally scheduled to be taken up with Indian collaboration. Tarique Rahman is expected to focus inn a big way on the pros and cons of this huge investment project and how Chinese investment and technology can be used for that.
As of now, Bangladesh sources make the point that Tarique is firm on his Bangladesh First policy and he will try to make use of relations with both China and India to develop Bangladesh. The Bangladesh PM is now fully concentrating on modernization of industries, setting up new industrial units and creation of adequate jobs to deal with the present unemployment problem. Bangladesh will not align fully with any country China or India.
But at the same time, it is also apparent that if Bangladesh do not get adequate response from India for developing its economy while, China comes the wholehog in helping Dhaka, the present stance may change. New Delhi has to take note of all these developments and see that Bangladesh and its citizens are not unnecessarily diplomatically harassed. Bangladesh still think India as a country which can help it. Indian political leadership has to be broadminded and take measures which assuage the feelings of the Bangladesh government. Efforts should be made by New Delhi to ensure that the Bangladesh PM visits India next soon after concluding China visit. Time is still there to improve bilateral relations if there is political goodwill in the leaderships of both the countries. (IPA Service)
