China may have described its foreign minister Wang Yi’s Bangladesh visit as a grand success, but the diplomats in India are viewing it as a damp squib, with Dhaka giving Beijing a clear message that it is going to maintain a cautious approach in bilateral relations. The sources who closely followed Wang’s visit to Dhaka told The Daily Guardian that during his meetings with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, the Chinese foreign minister was given a message that the country will not take any decision on China’s offer regarding investments or projects in a hurried manner.
The sources in touch with Bangladesh diplomats further told this newspaper that Dhaka has categorically
“refused to blindly follow the instructions from Beijing even on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).” Bangladesh is part of China’s BRI and is also involved in various projects related to trade and investments.
Sources said that Wang Yi did not get the response he was expecting from Bangladesh vis-à-vis BRI and other projects involving Chinese companies. “After Sri Lanka’s downfall, Bangladesh is quite wary of Chinese moves. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had also cautioned Dhaka against the potential traps,” officials told TDG. So, the Hasina government is now more careful in dealing with the Chinese dispensation, which was felt by Wang Yi during his meetings in Dhaka, sources said.
Hours after his interactions in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s finance minister Mustafa Kamal in an interview to a newspaper warned developing countries of taking Chinese loans through its BRI. He said that the nations must think twice about these loans as Beijing’s poor lending decisions risk pushing these nations into debt distress. “He also cautioned Beijing on following a more robust process for evaluating its loans and noted that these kinds of bad loans add strains on indebted emerging markets. It needs to “make a thorough study” before lending to a project, he said.”
Diplomats here said that nothing could give a much clearer message to China than what the Bangladesh’s finance minister said. “What is also important is that these remarks came just hours after Wang Yi wound up his visit to Bangladesh,” officials said. “These words lend credence to the information that Wang Yi was apprised of Dhaka being firm on taking a cautious approach towards Beijing now,” officials added.
According to some Bangladesh’s newspapers, when Wang earlier desired to visit Dhaka in the first week of August, Abdul Momen told him to reschedule his visit due to some unavoidable reasons. “Momen conveyed to Wang through diplomatic channels that he should arrive in Bangladesh in the second week of August,” reports say. India sees it as a clear message to the Chinese foreign minister by Dhaka that it is not going to be dominated despite being the beneficiary of various investments from Beijing.
Earlier in May 2021, the Bangladesh government gave China’s envoy to Dhaka, Li Jiming a soulful lecture and asked him to maintain “decency and decorum” after he warned Dhaka from a public platform to desist from joining the Quadrilateral Group. “As a sovereign country, Bangladesh will determine the course of its foreign policy in the interest of its people,” Momen said in a sharply worded statement. These developments clearly show that Dhaka will not compromise with its national interest, and it will remain cautious in dealing with China, sources said.