Dhaka, Beijing should deepen strategic partnership: Yao

Ambassador of China to Bangladesh Yao Wen on Saturday said Bangladesh and China “should deepen the strategic partnership” for cooperation and explore new growth points.

“China is willing to work with Bangladesh to continue exploring cooperation opportunities under the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI),” he said.

In particular, the ambassador said, they are willing to promote upgrading of industries and digitalization process in Bangladesh, and to improve the quality and competitiveness of “Made in Bangladesh”.

He was delivering keynote speech at a symposium as part of the Cosmos Dialogue

Ambassadors’ Lecture Series entitled “Bangladesh-China Relations: Prognosis for the Future” at a hotel in Dhaka.

The discussion was chaired and conducted by President of Cosmos Foundation and renowned scholar-diplomat and former Advisor on Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Caretaker Government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

While delivering the welcome remarks, Chairman of Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan said Bangladesh and China are moving closer together as friends on the international stage.

The ties received a major boost during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to China in 2019 and the watershed point of this transformation was President Xi Jinping’s all-important visit to Bangladesh in 2016, he said, adding that this heralded the beginning of the “strategic partnership”.

“It is a great source of inspiration to Bangladeshis as we witness China’s peaceful rise. We know from President Xi that the Chinese people have a dream; so do we in Bangladesh as we strive to achieve middle-income status, of which we are on the cusp,” Khan said.

“It is my firmest conviction that ties with China will continue to form the bedrock of our efforts to fulfill these aspirations,” he added.

Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury said it appears to all of them that China is rising; and the Chinese saw this as a peaceful rise.

“Now, being even more careful, they no longer talk of ‘peaceful rise’ but only peaceful development,” he said, adding that established global powers, of course, see this as a threat.

Referring to PM Hasina’s visit to Beijing in 2014 and President Xi’s visit to Bangladesh in 2016, he said these visits saw an “all-weather” friendship elevate to a strategic partnership.

Dr Iftekhar said Bangladesh-China relations are, therefore, emerging as an equation in the diplomatic calculations in Asia that will not fully show for itself tomorrow, nor the day after but in the long run in a continent where time for many is not the essence.

Ambassador Yao said his country has noticed the “Indo-Pacific Outlook of Bangladesh” released recently, and believes that many of its ideas are similar to those of China.

“China supports Bangladesh in playing a more active and more significant role in regional and international affairs while preserving its foreign policy of independence,” he said.

The world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and the pendulum of prosperity is pivoting to the East, said the Chinese envoy.

“Both China and Bangladesh are facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges,” he said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launching of the BRI.

Eight mega projects in Bangladesh, such as the Padma Bridge Railway Link Project, will be completed and put into use.

The construction of the Rajshahi Surface Water Treatment Plant Project will also kick off, said the Ambassador sharing the outcomes of the high-level visits in 2016 and 2019 and deepening cooperation under the BRI.

Talking about the future of relations, Ambassador Yao said Bangladesh and China should continue to firmly support each other in following a development path that suits our respective national conditions.

The modernisation of both China and Bangladesh involves a huge population.

“We should always bear realities in mind as we address issues, make decisions, and take action. We should adhere to the path of peaceful development, and refuse to tread the old path of war, colonisation, and plunder taken by some countries,” he said.

“Standing on our own feet, both China and Bangladesh have made a miracle of rapid socio-economic development, thus attracting the attention of the whole world,” he added.