[🇧🇩] China is a Time Tested Friend and a Strategic Partner of Bangladesh

[Saif]

China encouraged by resumption of social order in Bangladesh

It stands ready to work with Bangladesh to deliver on the important common understandings

en.prothomalo.com

China encouraged by resumption of social order in Bangladesh
Staff Correspondent
Published: 31 Jul 2024, 21: 43

Flags of Bangladesh and China

China has noted that the situation in Bangladesh has come under control and social order has resumed.

"The Chinese side is heartened by that as Bangladesh's friend and close neighbor," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters during a media briefing on 30 July.

He said Bangladesh and China are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners.

"China stands ready to work with Bangladesh to deliver on the important common understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to China," said Spokesperson.

He said China stands ready to deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, and deliver more benefits to the two peoples.​

 

[Saif]

Dhaka, Beijing discuss ways to take partnership forward

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ambassador Yao Wen yesterday called on Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and discussed issues of mutual interest.

www.thedailystar.net

Dhaka, Beijing discuss ways to take partnership forward

File photo of Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen. File photo

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ambassador Yao Wen yesterday called on Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and discussed issues of mutual interest.

The two sides had "in-depth exchanges of views" on the current situation in Bangladesh. They also discussed ways to move forward the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership between China and Bangladesh.

After the meeting, Touhid said the Chinese envoy hailed the friendly relationship between the two countries.

On his part, he said the people of Bangladesh look at China positively.

"We stressed on promoting the bilateral ties," he said.

The foreign adviser also thanked Yao Wen as China pledged to lend 2 billion Yuan to Bangladesh.

On August 9, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, during a regular press briefing, welcomed the formation of an interim government in Bangladesh.

"China strictly follows the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. We respect Bangladesh's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and the development path independently chosen by the Bangladeshi people," said the spokesperson.

China said they stand firmly by their policy of good neighbourliness and friendship with all the people of Bangladesh.

"The friendship between China and Bangladesh runs long and deep. China values its relations with Bangladesh, and stands ready to work with Bangladesh to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various areas and further advance our comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership," said the spokesperson.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh-China relations to be deeper: Chinese envoy

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen today held a meeting with BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

en.prothomalo.com

Bangladesh-China relations to be deeper: Chinese envoy
BSS
Published: 21 Aug 2024, 23: 03

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen held a meeting with BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on 21 August Courtesy of BNP

The meeting was held at BNP Chairperson's Office in city's Gulshan area.

BNP standing committee members Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain and Abdul Moin Khan, vice chairmen air vice marshal (retd) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Nurul Islam Moni and law affairs secretary Kaiser Kamal were present.

Over about one and half hours long meeting, overall situation including the ongoing political and economic conditions of Bangladesh were discussed.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Coordinator and European Union (EU) ambassador-in-charge have met the BNP secretary general after the fall of the dictatorial Sheikh Hasina's government in the last moment of the combined movement of students and people.

After the meeting with the chinese envoy, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a press conference said, "We are taking very seriously the visit of the Chinese ambassador to the BNP chairperson's office after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government through the combined revolution of the students and the people".

"We feel the China's commitment to the people of Bangladesh, and the firmness of its commitment to implement it," he said.

And at the same time they have made it clear that they (China) do not believe in hegemony, he added.

Mirza Fakhrul said that the promise that China has given to the people of Bangladesh is still being continued it.

"At the same time, we appreciate the important role of China which it is playing in the world," he said, adding, "We thanked them from this meeting for the way China is providing economic cooperation to the underdeveloped or developing countries in particular."

Mentioning the Chinese ambassador's greetings to BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman, the BNP secretary general said that they (China) believe that the relationship between BNP and the Communist Party of China will become stronger further.

China's investment in Bangladesh will further increase in overall development in the interest of the people of Bangladesh, he added.
Mirza Fakhrul said that they have welcomed them (Chinese envoy) on behalf of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.

"We believe that the relationship of mutual trust and confidence between us and China will deepen in the future. Not only that, the friendly relations of the people of Bangladesh with China will be deeper and deeper," he added.

BNP secretary general said, "We want to make it clear that BNP has always believed in the One China Policy and we want to reiterate that declaration even more strongly".

The Chinese ambassador said, "We have discussed and reviewed the issues of development of our mutual relations. Chinese Communist Party and BNP want to work together. We have discussed this today. It was also discussed how we can move forward by making this relationship closer and stronger".

The envoy also mentioned their full support to the Interim Government of Bangladesh and China's involvement in the development of the country.​

 

[Saif]

How will Bangladesh-China relations shape up?

The interim government must talk about jobs, industrialisation and the partnership with China

www.thedailystar.net

How will Bangladesh-China relations shape up?
The interim government must talk about jobs, industrialisation and the partnership with China

VISUAL: ANWAR SOHEL

If Bangladesh is suspended within the geopolitical tripod of India, China and the United States, where are we positioning now? The current discourse suggests that priorities are set where the near-neighbour with the largest GDP on the planet only gets bronze, not silver, and certainly not gold.

Beijing keeps its customary quiet demeanour, scrupulously keeping to its decades-long policy of not publicly interfering in internal matters. They are, however, quite interested in the events of the Bengal delta. The Global Times on August 12 noted that Donald Lu's visit in May was seen by some as "part of a strategy to pressure Hasina into acting against China." Liu Zongzi, director of the Center of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, guessed that the reason for the US "seeking to overthrow her [Hasina]" was "(her non-compliance) with the US on many issues."

Myanmar and St Martin's Island

Let's chat about St Martin's Island, a tiny, three square-kilometre coral outpost, as referred to in Chinese media. I visited the island—also known as Narikel Jinjira—in 2001, staying there for a night—a time when it was still not on the tourist trail. It took mere minutes to walk from one end to the other. Could this fragile place really be the location for a US base, to add to their 800-plus others around the globe? Eight kilometres off the coast of Arakan, some suggest it could be a listening post and a forward deployment point. In the age of drones, could one intervene in Arakan and the rest of Myanmar? It reminds us how Bangladesh and Myanmar security forces faced off each other in 2018.

Whether it is St Martin's or Teknaf is not the issue. Beijing is naturally alarmed by the civil war in Myanmar, with which it shares a long porous border. Instability in this resource-rich place directly affects Yunnan. Given that the US is confronting China in the Taiwan Straits, it is plausible that a "second front" might appear on the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady). If Dhaka shifts from Delhi to Washington's orbit with this new administration (or possibly a BNP one), Beijing will naturally look at the security implications across the Naf River and beyond.

In 2024, the unipolar world of yesteryear has disappeared. China is the manufacturing core of the world. It is the largest consumer market, too. It is just that we have little to sell to them, hence the urgent necessity to set up newer production lines to create higher skilled jobs.

More than a million Rohingya remain trapped in an open air confinement in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar. Imploring China to assist with their repatriation begs the question: why are they going to spend enormous amounts of political capital in dealing with the brutal Tatmadaw or the Arakan Army? Dhaka needs to formulate a much broader policy on Myanmar, which takes into consideration Beijing's anxieties and seeks common ground between the two. That would be a first. Besides the Rohingya, how often have our political elites ever evinced an interest in Myanmar—and thus China?

There was one time. In 2012, there were talks of Chinese willingness to build a direct road from Kunming via Mandalay to Teknaf, which was shelved. India leaned on Yangon to block that lifeline. Later, Delhi also put an end to the longer route from Kunming to Kolkata, via Dhaka, which had been rebranded as BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor).

Treating China like a cash cow?

This is where we come to the nub of the problem. We see China as just a giant foreign aid ATM. They are ready to lend and build as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but they also seek a deeper partnership.

Even though I had my fears, I wrote a piece in this daily in July, titled "Mission to China." I was shocked how disastrous the trip to Beijing turned out to be. Last year, in discussions in Dhaka, I was led to believe that the Awami League government would shift dramatically to Beijing after securing its victory in the January 7 (s)election. But would Delhi allow such a thing? This year, Sheikh Hasina made not one, but two, visits to Delhi. The second one looked like a dressing down by the South Block. Chinese offers to invest over a billion dollars in saving the little water that came from the Teesta River were to be rejected. So were any major breakthroughs. So, the former foreign minister, Hasan Mahmud, and associates bandied about the sum of money they would ask out of China. $5 billion worth of yuan, which became $2 billion. More infrastructure—easy to syphon commissions from, perhaps.

This was capped off by a severe breach of diplomatic protocol. Hasina and her courtiers tore up the schedule and returned one night earlier. Mahmud claimed it was because she was terribly ill. Even if it was because they got wind of the seriousness of the student revolt, the then foreign minister and colleagues could have remained. But no, they returned—all smiles. Criticisms were batted away with a prime ministerial diagnosis that our heads had to be examined.

As a gift, China upgraded the relationship to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership. Has anyone noticed much of any dialogue or observations about this?

That was then, this is now

Over the last decade, we have been unable to work with China to build a new industrial export sector to wean us away from our dangerous dependency on the RMG sector. Jagaran Chakma's report in this daily last month detailed the painful odyssey of the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone. The 784-acre site in Chattogram was allocated for Chinese industry. Intended to create as many as 200,000 jobs, it is still inoperative for eight long years.

The interim government must talk about jobs, industrialisation and the partnership with China. Last month, the issue, at its ultimate core, was not only the unfair distribution of bureaucratic posts; it was also the profound lack of decent employment in the private sector. To solve that, one needs a policy, a strategy and shedloads of capital. Right now, only China offers that quantity of capital and expertise to invest in new industries. Supply chains, component-producing factories, industrial clusters are all exporting to earn dollars and yuan. This should form the basis of the developmental discourse, and it should be steered towards modern industry and associated technology.

In 2024, the unipolar world of yesteryear has disappeared. China is the manufacturing core of the world. It is the largest consumer market, too. It is just that we have little to sell to them, hence the urgent necessity to set up newer production lines to create higher skilled jobs.

Can Md Touhid Hossain convince us that Bangladesh has not moved merely from the Indian leg of the tripod directly to a distant Western power? I would like to hear more about how Bangladesh will work with China, to genuinely further mutual interests. This is still a least developed country. Tens of millions of young Bangladeshis are rightly impatient. Time is short.

Farid Erkizia Bakht is a political analyst.​

 

[Saif]

Chinese firm to invest $50m in Bepza EZ

China-based Home Joy Socks Bangladesh Company Limited signed an agreement with Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) recently to set up a sock and garment manufacturing factory in Bepza Economic Zone with an investment of $50 million.

www.thedailystar.net

Chinese firm to invest $50m in Bepza EZ

China-based Home Joy Socks Bangladesh Company Limited signed an agreement with Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) recently to set up a sock and garment manufacturing factory in Bepza Economic Zone with an investment of $50 million.

The company has set a target to annually produce 100 million pairs of socks, 100 million pairs of tights, 100 million pieces of lingerie and 50 million pieces of knitwear for infants.

The investment will create employment opportunities for 4,980 Bangladeshi nationals at the factory inside Bepza Economic Zone, which is located at Mirsarai in Chattogram.

Md Ashraful Kabir, member (investment promotion) of Bepza, and Fu Wenlong, managing director of the company, penned the deal at Bepza Complex in Dhaka, said a press release.

Maj Gen Abul Kalam Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, executive chairman of Bepza, thanked the company for deciding to invest in Bepza Economic Zone.

He hoped that the foreign direct investment of this company would have a significant impact on the socioeconomic development of Bangladesh.

So far, 33 companies, including Home Joy Socks Bangladesh Company Limited, have signed agreements proposing to investment a total of $768.46 million to set up factories inside Bepza Economic Zone.

Among them, three have already started commercial operations.

Among others, Mohammad Faruque Alam, member (engineering) of Bepza Economic Zone, ANM Foyzul Haque, member (finance), ASM Zamshed Khondaker, executive director (admin), Md Tanvir Hossain, executive director (investment promotion), Mohammad Anamul Haque, project director, were also present.​

 

[Saif]

China to provide 100 duty-free access of Bangladeshi exports

China has decided to provide 100 duty-free access of Bangladeshi exports, alongside the other Least Developed Countries, to the Chinese market

www.thedailystar.net

China to provide 100 duty-free access of Bangladeshi exports

China has decided to provide 100 duty-free access of Bangladeshi exports, alongside the other Least Developed Countries, to the Chinese market.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen conveyed the decision when he called on Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin at the foreign ministry today.

"The Chinese ambassador said in the Sino-Africa summit in early September, China decided to provide 100 percent tariff line to the LDCs including Bangladesh," Jashim Uddin told reporters.

Earlier in 2022, China granted duty-free access to 98 percent of Bangladeshi goods, including 383 new products, especially leather and leather-made goods. It was an increase from 97 percent duty-free facility to Bangladeshi products in 2020.

China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner, with China exporting products to Bangladesh worth more than $22.5 billion, while Bangladesh's export is only about $600 million.

Jashim Uddin said the highest foreign direct investment after the formation of the interim government came from China, and it is about $8 million.

"We are expecting increase in our export to China," he said, adding that the procedures of exporting mango to Bangladesh is almost completing. "We can export mango to China from next year."

The foreign secretary also said Bangladesh is also working with China to export other fruits like jackfruit, guava, some other products.

In FY 2019-20, China imported $2.4 trillion worth of goods where Bangladesh's portion was only 0.05 percent demonstrating the huge trade scope that existed in the Chinese market for Bangladesh.

MA Razzaque, head of Research and Policy Integration for Development, in a research said if Bangladesh can grab only 1 percent share of China's market, then it could earn $25 billion.

Economists say Bangladesh's main export item is readymade garments and increasing export to China will need require Bangladesh to diversify its export basket.​

 

[Saif]

Govt urges China to reduce loan interest, extend repayment period

The government has requested China to lower the interest rates on existing Chinese loans to 1 percent and extend the repayment period to 30 years.

www.thedailystar.net

Govt urges China to reduce loan interest, extend repayment period

The government has requested China to lower the interest rates on existing Chinese loans to 1 percent and extend the repayment period to 30 years.

To this end, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance sent a letter to Beijing early this week, ERD Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddiky confirmed to The Daily Star.

Currently, interest rates on Chinese loans range from 2-3 percent with a repayment period of 20 years.

ERD officials said that if they cannot secure interest rate cuts for ongoing Chinese loans, they will attempt to get it along with extended repayments for new Chinese borrowing.

In his address to the nation on Wednesday, Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Muhammad Yunus said Bangladesh is seeking lower rates and extended repayments for foreign loans to alleviate pressure on its fast-depleting foreign exchange reserves.

Professor Yunus said Bangladesh has requested China to reduce the interest rates on its loans and to extend the repayment tenure.

Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Bangladesh in October 2016 pledged $20 billion -- the largest amount committed by a bilateral partner of Bangladesh -- over the following four years to implement 27 projects.

Following the loan promise, agreements were signed on a project-by-project basis. As of this January, Dhaka and Beijing had managed to sign agreements on only nine projects, totalling $8.08 billion, according to ERD figures.

Of the $8.08 billion, Bangladesh has only been able to utilise $4.91 billion, less than a quarter of the money promised by China.

Now, the interim government says the remaining 18 projects would be reviewed to determine their economic priority amid the current context.

LOAN RELIEF TALKS WITH RUSSIA ON TOO

Chief Adviser Yunus also said Bangladesh had requested Russia to lower its interest rates and allow extended repayments as well.

Yunus said that the government was negotiating with the Russian Federation regarding the advance payment for the ongoing Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and outstanding debts.

The $11.38 billion nuclear plant loan from Moscow covers 90 percent of the project cost. Besides, Bangladesh took a $500 million Russian loan for the primary work of the project.

Following the US financial sanctions on Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Bangladesh has been facing challenges in repaying the $500 million loan and interest payments.

As a result, the outstanding loans to Russia have reached over $600 million to date.

Upon the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government is setting aside the outstanding amount in a separate account at the Bangladesh Bank. Whenever funds are added to the account, Russia receives a notification.

The nuclear plant agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Russia in 2016, with disbursements beginning in 2017.

According to the agreement, the government will have to repay the loan in 20 years, from March 2027 to 2047, with a 10-year grace period ending in 2027.

The Russian loan carries an interest rate of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 1.75 percent. But the interest rate will not exceed 4 percent.

A senior ERD official said Russia has sent multiple letters to Bangladesh requesting repayment in Chinese Yuan.

A meeting was held last week between Bangladesh and Russia to discuss the overdue amount, penalty charges and other related matters.

Another finance ministry official said that the Bangladesh side requested Russia to provide a solution for repaying the funds that does not violate US sanctions.

The local payment of the project to Russian contractors is being paid timely.

Due to the high SOFR rate, the interest rate on the Russian loan is currently approaching its maximum level. The ERD will request Russia to reduce the interest rate and penalty charges.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

This is a narrative which was very popular in Pakistan. Pakistan and China's friendship was deeper than ocean and higher than mountain. Situation has changed a lot. China was never a great friend of BD. Pusing fake narratives will fall flat against geopolitical reality.