Bangladesh: Role of foreign powers

In the second episode of #NatStratConversations, NatStrat Advisor Shantanu Mukharji and former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, R Kumar, discuss the role of foreign powers in Bangladesh.

Shantanu Mukharji points out that there are growing calls in the British Parliament to declare the Pakistani atrocities as genocide on Bangladesh just before the liberation in 1971. He recalls that China was hesitant to recognise Bangladesh soon after its liberation and recognised it only after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

R. Kumar draws attention to China’s attempts to bring investments in India’s periphery to undercut India’s influence in the subcontinent, whether in Pakistan, Sri Lanka or other countries using the BRI project. He asserts that China has a dominant role in Bangladesh’s defence sector. It supplied submarines and established the Pekua naval base in Bangladesh.

However, PM Sheikh Hasina realises that Bangladesh's strategic space should not go to China at the cost of India. The fact is that despite professing good relations with Bangladesh, China has not put pressure on Myanmar to take the Rohingya refugees back.

#bangladesh #india #china #usa #turkey #unitedkingdom #pakistan

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