And don't forget Bangladesh By Farid Bakht Asia Times | April 1, 2005 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GD01Df04.html (Farid Bakht belongs to an independent think-tank, Futurebangla Network. He is based in Dhaka and London.) Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is on a wide-ranging tour, set to visit Dhaka on April 7 for a couple of days before flying to India for a four-day visit. We need to look at the Sino-Bangladesh relationship within the larger dynamic of China and India. Over the coming days, the real action will be between the Indians and the Chinese, putting the border disputes to bed once and for all. Removing irritants from their stop-start relationship will lead to bigger things. Over 55 years, they have moved from "Hindi-Chini bhai-bha i" (India-China brotherhhod) to hot war in 1962, to strategic rivalry over Bangladesh in 1971 to trading partners in 2005. Bangladesh is not in the unenviable position of Nepal. One of the latter's kings once said that Nepal was a "yam between two boulders" (India and China). Dhaka has much more leverage and more options than Kathmandu. Nevertheless, it needs to appreciate that India and China are two superpowers in the making, accounting for 40% of the global population. Being in the neighborhood, Bangladesh is in the path of any waves and will feel the full impact. Yangon is working closely with Delhi and Beijing. Dhaka needs to approach these two nations in a similar way. Friends to both, enemies to none. Dhaka's 'irritants' Bangladesh needs to close that irresponsible chapter of opening a Taiwanese consulate in 2004. What else would you call an outlet handing out visas? One wonders what could have been the thought process behind that embarrassment. Surely, Dhaka understands the significance of Taiwan to the longevity of the Communist Party in China. Sticking its nose into that matter does not fit in with its national interests. As an aside, the Chinese are keen on funding infrastructure projects, especially "friendship bridges" (particularly useful in a riverine country). As it is, the trip will see the conclusion of hard negotiating over the financing structure for two stalled power projects. The Sino-Indian bandwagon Bangladesh is conveniently situated on the path of this bandwagon. It needs to work out how to gain from this relationship. Sino-Indian trade is up to US$14 billion per year. It is growing fast and has major implications as it binds the two nations together. They have formed a Sino-Indian joint study group on trade and economic cooperation. With this, they will explore the potential for sub-regional cooperation, such as the Kunming Initiative. During the visit to Dhaka, the two leaders should sign an accord. This will mean that for the first time passengers will be able to fly direct to Kunming, southwestern China. Can that be a small start culminating in the Eastern Quadrangle of eastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and southwestern China? I was in Kolkata recently and read a piece in one that city's broadsheets. The writer was advocating the resurrection of an old military road, called the Stilwell Road. He wanted to revamp it into a modern all-weather highway to transport billions of dollars' worth of trade between India and China. Most of the current trade moves the long route by ship, taking two weeks extra and costing a lot more. Bangladesh was not in the writer's sights since he was envisaging a road from Assam, through Myanmar to China's Kunming in Yunnan province. Presumably, the road from Assam to Kolkata and Delhi would go through the "chicken-neck" Siliguri corridor of West Bengal, bypassing Bangladesh. It would be in Bangladesh's interests to support this venture and tag it on to the Trans-Asian Highway so that trade flows through Bangladesh on the way to Kolkata. India is opening a sparkling, air-conditioned, new cargo airport and also looks as though it will revamp the backward port of Haldia. Dhaka needs to think ahead and get its seaports to similar international container standards and not in the outdated feeder-vessel system as it is today. That way some containers will enter its territory to use its ports. If it is acceptable to contemplate a tripartite gas pipeline linking Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, it is logical to get the most out of Bangladesh's geographical position in other ways. We need to ask why "transshipment" is such a controversial issue, since military movement has to be out of the question. Visionary leadership could see this as a booming region or the New World Frontier. There needs to be more focus on that vision. Bangladesh should encourage Sino-Indian cooperation to blossom. It then follows that there will have to be peace and stability in the Seven Sister States of the northeast. India should pour in more investment and make some confidence-building gestures to get the ball rolling. Blaming its neighbors for alleged involvement in providing sanctuary to rebels is not a viable policy. It just leads to a slanging match with no end. It has to tackle its domestic problem at its social, economic and political roots. The China card A small nation in South Asia could fantasize about playing China off against India. It might come up with a ruse to make China a full member in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to "balance" India. It could bluff its way as in some game of poker. But it is unlikely to work in the world of realpolitik . Instead, we need to assume there will be closer relations between the two giants and the rest need to ride that wave. It means putting economic policy above all else at the center of foreign policy. Playing the Great Game when half of one's population lives under the poverty line is self-defeating and out of date. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! 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