Geopolitics, security factors come into play

---

Syful Islam | Published: June 21, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

---

Diplomatic and geopolitical strategies along with security dynamics are learnt to have been major determining factors behind Bangladesh's last-minute backtracking on signing the planned deal with China on construction of the proposed deep-sea port in the Bay of Bengal.
Officials concerned and experts said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's upcoming visit to a few countries might have played a part in jettisoning the contract- signing plan as the latter are also willing to be engaged in the deep-sea-port venture.
"Had the deal been signed with China, the countries concerned might have become dissatisfied. This may be another factor that prompted the cancellation of the scheduled contract signing," said a government secretary, who was also in prime minister's entourage during her China tour.
Experts said neighbouring India is not taking Bangladesh's move to construct the deep-sea port with Chinese funding positively because of the security importance of the port. Indian officials have expressed their views in this regard several times in the recent past.
Days back, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj  Saran in a televised interview said his country would evaluate the issue of constructing the deep-sea port at Sonadia with Chinese assistance through its security lens.  When contacted, director-general of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Major-General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed told the FE the deep-sea port would be definitely constructed since it is a very important economic and strategic issue for Bangladesh.
He said apart from China, many other countries are interested to assist Bangladesh in the construction of a deep-sea port in Cox's Bazar. "Each country has its own terms and conditions. Until and unless consensus is reached on every terms and conditions, it may not be executed. I am quite sanguine that this may take little time but it will be a reality."
In the regional security perspective, Mr Ahmed pointed out, the proposed deep-sea port is getting immensely important due to geographic proximity of the port to one of the world's most significant maritime areas hosting critical sea lanes of communications for India, China and Southeast and East Asian nations.
"The security dynamics of the deep-sea port is intractably linked with the growing significance of the Bay of Bengal. In recent years, we are observing the proclivity of the littoral and the extra-regional countries to shape the contemporary strategic development in the bay at their own advantages," he said.
Beijing has mooted a move to build BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) economic corridor as a priority concern for sub-regional connectivity, evidently to spread the wings of the economic superpower around.
During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Japan visit few days back, Tokyo broached another bloc in the area under the nomenclature of Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt.
Further explaining the big-power bids centering this area, General Ahmed said while India is getting much assertive towards dominating the security dynamics of the greater Indian Ocean Rim, China is purporting expansion of its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean, particularly as the region's sea lines connect the Chinese economy to critical sources of energy in the Middle-East and Africa.
"If you see it from strategic perspective, the US rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific with its Asia-pivot policy is also at play to make the region a sensitive area in terms of regional security setting," he added.
The BIISS director-general pointed out that India and USA's perception towards China as a threat to their vital interests in the region has brought them closer centering the deep-sea port.
"A China-aligned deep-sea port may be a big concern for them for that matter. The significance of the port lies in its prospective role in the changing distribution of power in the Indian Ocean Rim in general and in the Bay of Bengal in particular," he said.
He noted that India and the USA came closer with the signing of strategic partnership agreement and acting jointly in the Indian-Ocean security context.
"Therefore, both India and the USA would be viewing the construction of the deep-sea port with the help of China from a military-security lens.  And the proposed deep-sea port would play a big role in reconfiguring competition and cooperation between these big players of the region in the coming days."
Mr Ahmed also said in general, India wants to strengthen its foothold in the Bay of Bengal. India is concerned that China may use the port as military base in future. It may increase India's security threats.
"Indian concerns have already been evaluated in a wide range of ways. My personal understanding is that Bangladesh needs to increase its confidence with India as the Sonadia port would only be used for the purpose of transaction of goods and services," he said.
"Again, India may have a concern that if the port is constructed by China, Bangladesh might be in China's orbit of influence for a long term. In that, Bangladesh's keenness to construct the port immediately while, maybe, delaying the construction of the port (by China) by India is a dilemma. Hence, it would be difficult for Bangladesh to convince India," General Ahmed added.