Friends, foes and big neighbour India: Bangladesh's tough balancing act

To allay perceptions of a possible tilt towards China, Bangladesh has rubbished a recent report by Tokyo-based Nikkei Asia which stated that Dhaka had finalised with Beijing a deal to set up a missile maintenance and repair facility in the country.

US Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland led a high-level delegation to Dhaka for the eighth Bangladesh-US dialogue on March 20. Earlier in the week, a delegation by BJP’s foreign affairs in charge Dr Vijay Chauthiwale was in Dhaka to develop party-to-party relations with Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League.

No one will doubt it was an awkward moment for the Nikkei report to hit the stands, as Bangladesh seeks to balance its relations between leading powers like the US and China and big neighbour India.

US-Bangladesh ties

The US is trying to deepen its strategic ties with Bangladesh through two new agreements, which it proposed on Sunday, during the eighth bilateral dialogue. Dhaka, meanwhile, is keen to get the US to lift its recent sanctions on seven of its senior security officials, including present police chief Benazir Ahmed.

The March 11 report in Nikkei Asia ran a headline that said Delhi was alarmed at the development and primarily sourced the story to an unnamed Bangladesh diplomat.

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According to the report, the diplomat had said that both Beijing and Dhaka were keeping the development under the wraps. “This is not true. It’s completely false and misleading,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam told media persons in Dhaka.

Quick denial

Alam said his government would take this up with Nikkei Asia and communicate its objections in the strongest terms. He further said there is nothing like a Bangladesh-China maintenance centre or missile maintenance centre and there is no plan to build anything like that.

But Alam said regular maintenance is required for any military equipment purchased from any country that is a part of a procurement deal. “Beyond this, there is no plan to build any facility afresh. Even in the past, there was no such facility that could be used as a hub,” Shahriar explained to journalists.

The Nikkei Asia report was titled “India wary of China setting up Bangladesh missile maintenance hub, Beijing crossing a line”. It claimed that China was preparing to set up a maintenance facility in Bangladesh for surface-to-air missile systems it had supplied in 2011. The report said that had set alarm bells ringing in New Delhi.

A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official said the report carried by Nikkei ASIA was “very provocative and done with evil motives”. But he did not elaborate.

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The Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said that China will not build any military base in Bangladesh or any other foreign land.

When asked about the Nikkei report, Jiming said: “Whether anything like that…a repairing factory, because of the request of the Bangladesh government or something like that…I cannot firmly confirm this information because this is from some report.”

“I have to check it,” Jiming added, as reporters asked him to react on the Nikkei Asia report which claimed China was preparing to set up a maintenance facility in Bangladesh for surface-to-air missile systems it supplied in 2011.

But Jiming said that China would not build any military facility or military bases on any foreign countries, including Bangladesh.

No reaction from India yet

India has not formally reacted to the Nikkei report so far. Neither has the US.

But some Indian experts, like sinologist Srikanth Kondapalli, have been quoted in the Nikkei report as expressing concern over the Chinese move.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seen as India’s most reliable ally in South Asia, but her government has welcomed substantial Chinese assistance for infrastructure development and boosted bilateral trade with Beijing after China waived tariff on a wide range of Bangladesh products.

Bangladesh is also the second largest importer of Chinese weapons after Pakistan. Glitches and snags in Chinese equipment have often led to demands in procuring countries for replacement or better maintenance.

Around 35 per cent of China’s arms supplies went to Pakistan between 2013 and 2017, followed by 19 per cent to Bangladesh. Dhaka procured 71 per cent of its arms from China over the five-year period, and Myanmar 68 per cent.

Tough balancing act

Bangladesh has a tough balancing act ahead as it needs to keep India, China, US and even Russia in good humour.

China has invested billions in mega infrastructure projects as has India. The US is a huge market for Bangladesh exports and Dhaka is negotiating to regain preferential terms by getting the GSP revived. Washington also raised democracy and human rights issues in Bangladesh that unnerved the Hasina government.

Russia’s Rosatom is trying to finish Bangladesh’s first nuclear power project at Rooppur, a 2,400 MW plant, whose early completion is now in doubt due to Western sanctions on Russia.

QUAD membership

Last year, China warned Bangladesh against joining the QUAD and said in so many words that doing so would upset their bilateral relations. Bangladesh denied receiving any proposal for joining QUAD but said none should interfere with its sovereign right to take decisions on such issue.

US officials have denied asking Bangladesh to join the QUAD but during the March 20 bilateral dialogue, it proposed two defence agreements with Bangladesh as the latter is seeking to buy advanced equipment from the US, as part of its goal to modernise the military by 2030. The agreements are General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the Acquisition Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA).

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US officials termed them “foundational agreements” meant to strengthen defence relationship between two countries.

“We are currently working with the government of Bangladesh to conclude certain foundational defence agreements … these are essential to enabling a close relationship, expanding opportunities for defence trade, information sharing, and military-to-military cooperation between our two countries,” said a US official, wishing not to be named.

That should actually raise worries in Beijing, for long the major weapons supplier for Bangladesh.

(The writer is a former BBC correspondent and author, and has worked in Bangladesh as senior editor with bdnews24.com)

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not reflect the views of The Federal)