We embrace what's best for Bangladesh

Take the name of New Delhi, Beijing comes along. If not in the same breath, by association of thoughts, for sure. You know only too well that each pair of bilateral relationship is distinct from another; but it cannot be put in an airtight compartment either. Nor is it desirable for a country like Bangladesh to fancy a straightjacket, especially in relation to two giant neighbours like India and China. 

They themselves are launched on what they rejoice in as a model of relationship between two big powers. Bangladesh only wants to grow with them under the cusp of transparency. The interrelationships should be upfront and above board with honesty-being-the-best-policy-even-in-diplomacy kind of overarching commitment.

Of neighbours it can be said that they are as much a matrix of engagement as crucibles of conflict. We are happy to say that with India one of our conflicts is out of the way, another is nearing resolution, hopefully. The silver bullet for Teesta is Modi's leverage with Mamata having to repay the huge cumulative debts to the union government contracted by the long drawn out communist rule in the state. Subsidies from Modi can take the strain off Mamata's shoulders thereby fetching her acquiescence in delivering a deal to Bangladesh.

When India cuts far reaching deals with Bangladesh, China cannot be left behind. This is the message you draw from two recent initiatives taken by Beijing.

The first one relates to Dhaka having received a draft memo from Beijing for a deal with Bangladesh on Blue Economy and Maritime Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal. Apparently spurred on by India signing two deals on the subject, Beijing has come out with the memo, months after Bangladesh had actually approached them for it. 

One Indian deal envisages cooperation on blue economy and maritime sphere for capacity building, training and joint research collaborations, and setting up of a Joint Working Group for further cooperation in this area. An MoU has also been signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India and University of Dhaka for joint research on oceanography in the Bay of Bengal.

Lately, a six-member CPC delegation from China led by Vice Minister Guo Yezhou has been on a visit to Bangladesh on the invitation of the government.

While their official news agency Xinhua in a report based on PTI said, "Modi leaves Bangladesh thirsty," at party and government levels a more mature judgment comes forth. The delegation chief welcomed the deals struck between Dhaka and New Delhi hoping that the benefits of connectivity in South Asia will not be confined to the region alone, they will girdle beyond it.

The Chinese vice minister met BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on June 15. BNP standing committee member Abdul Moeen Khan said, "China wants political stability and peaceful atmosphere in Bangladesh for the sake of its democratic progress and overall development." The BNP spokesman, however, did not say whether extremism and violence drew any attention. 

General Secretary of the ruling Awami League Syed Ashraful Islam conveyed to the CPC delegation that "... a friendly relation now exists between the two countries, which will be cemented further in future". 

Some high level visits from China are expected in September to mark the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Beijing. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang's visit is on the cards when an MoU is likely to be signed on maritime cooperation. 

Our PM, in her talks with special envoy, Chai Xi in May had mentioned the allocation of land in Chittagong for establishing a Special Chinese Economic Zone. She hoped that China would relocate its labour intensive factories to Bangladesh as much as possible.

C. Raja Mohon, a senior Indian Express journalist, writes how Modi has changed India's foreign policy direction. "No, Delhi does not need to formulate connectivity linkages by road and sea with Dhaka in opposition to China," says he. On the western front, India is opposed to the attempted China-Pakistan economic corridor through Palk Strait (having huge cultural and religious significance to Hinduism) between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. But India is not averse to Chinese connectivity on the eastern front. The four-nation expansion of communication encompassing India, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh has been in incubation for a number of years. This is famously known as the BCIM corridor. 

Both India and Bangladesh are parts of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) established by China as a formidable parallel to Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank). Xi's one-belt-one-road-policy vision crops up.

That Modi has a positive vibe towards rapid expansion of regional cooperation taking Bangladesh along with China is seen by Raja Mohon as marking a departure from the South Block's traditional foreign policy predilections. 

Modi's 'neighbour-first' policy is complemented by his wider-spectrum cooperation with Japan and United States on the basis of reciprocal interests.

An important sphere where China would eventually have to be drawn into concerns joint river basin management, an agenda that needs the collective attention of all co-riparian states.

A last word of wisdom in international relations reads like this: "There are no permanent friends or foes but only permanent national interests."

In cultivating relations with other countries we needn't have any dilemma over choices because the sole criterion for friendship is who serves our national interest best.

The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.