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Defence policy should be based on geo-strategic considerations

Wednesday, 12 May 2010


The geo-strategic importance of Bangladesh can hardly be over-emphasised and it is the prime duty of the government to take appropriate measures to maintain regional balance of power to safeguard our national interest.
Bangladesh is surrounded by India on three sides and the disparity between the two nations in terms of size of the economy and military power is significant. Being a much smaller and weaker country, Bangladesh needs to forge deep political and defence relations with other big players in the region to counteract the excessive influence of an immediate neighbour.
Bangladesh needs to cement its existing bilateral relations with China and explore ways to forge meaningful security relations with regional forums like ASEAN.
Bangladesh has been enjoying cordial relations with China for over 30 years but this relation between the two close neighbours has never reached the strategic level. Bangladesh remained as a loyal 'buyer' of cheap Chinese weapons. Our military planners and political leaders never took a bold step to take the bilateral relation beyond the tactical level because of the fact that they always fear the possible adverse Indian reaction to such development.
The strategic agreement between India and America has, according to some observers, altered the defence equation in the region. For that matter, such changes should be taken into consideration as far as practicable for drawing up the defence strategy of Bangladesh.

Kabir Murad
Department of International Relations
Dhaka University.