The impact of Bangladesh's general election on Bangladesh-China relations

The 11th general election in Bangladesh was successfully concluded on December 30, 2018, in which the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leader of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, won a landmark victory. This has been the third consecutive win for Awami League-led coalition since 2009, which paved the way for Hasina to serve as Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the fourth time. On January 03, 2019, her new cabinet took oath.
During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's two consecutive terms of ruling from 2009 to 2018, the government of Bangladesh has made remarkable achievements in governance. The GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate of the country has remained about 7.0 per cent in these years. The leadership of Sheikh Hasina for a decade has made Bangladesh one of the fastest growing economies in the world. At the same time, in 2018, Bangladesh was officially recognised by United Nations committee on development policy for fulfilling the criteria for graduation from the least developed country status to a developing country. The current government has taken over with the aim of furthering these achievements by turning Bangladesh into a developing country by the upcoming decade. Sheikh Hasina's another term, therefore, has undoubtedly drawn a great attention from all sides of the world.
China, as a long-standing development partner of Bangladesh, has been maintaining a close relationship with the country. Both the countries are time-tested and reliable partners of cooperation. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries more than 40 years ago on December 04, 1975, they have established good and stable relations over the years and their bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, military and cultural fields has also been deepened. Today, China is not only Bangladesh's largest source of imports, but has also been its highest trading partner for about two decades.
China and Bangladesh also maintain a close relationship in various regional and international platforms, such as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations. During President Xi Jinping's visit to Dhaka in October 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed him with historic diplomatic gesture and two countries signed several agreements on different sectors of cooperation.
Bangladesh is one of the first countries in south Asia to support the construction of the Belt and Road, and is also an active supporter and participant in the construction of the BCIM economic corridor. During her visit to China in 2014, Prime Minister Hasina said that, her country would like to take an active part in the construction of the Belt and Road and the BCIM economic corridor. Therefore, during China's president Xi Jinping's state visit to Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina's government officially announced its accession to the Belt and Road initiative. This shows that, Hasina attaches great importance to the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and China. We believe that, her reelection will certainly further cement the friendly relations between Bangladesh and China, and bring greater focus on the construction of the BCIM economic corridor and the construction of the Belt and Road.
China seems to be the largest investment source for Bangladesh in the upcoming years. For example, during president Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh, the two countries signed a $24 billion loan agreement to promote infrastructure construction and optimise the production capacity structure of Bangladesh. In the future, the two countries will also bring into full play the huge space and potential for cooperation in the fields of transportation, energy, power plants, chemical industry and communications. The two countries will further deepen the friendly and cooperative relations, and will promote common development.
Apart from trade and investment, these two countries have also been cooperating in cultural and educational sectors. Currently, thousands of Bangladeshi students are pursuing their higher studies in numerous universities in China with the support of Chinese government scholarships. The number of Bangladeshi students learning Chinese language in the Confucius Institutes of public and private universities in Bangladesh is also increasing substantially. There is a radio station in China, Radio International (CRI) which is dedicated to the Bengali language as well. These are signs of developing a stronger people-to-people contact between these two countries, which is expected to go further under the current government of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, with its unique geographical location, is an important fulcrum along the Belt and Road initiative of China and the BCIM economic corridor. The two countries complement each other in economic relations and share common strategic aspirations. This has laid a solid foundation for the development of friendly cooperation between the two countries. China also attaches great importance to cooperation with Bangladesh. It is believed that under the leadership of Prime Minister Hasina and the Bangladesh Awami League, the economic development of Bangladesh will become better and better, the living standards of the Bangladeshi people will continue to improve, and bilateral relations between Bangladesh and China will advance steadily.

Jin Shi, Scholar, Yunnan Land and Resources Vocational College, P.R. China; Ting Zhao, Scholar, Yunnan University, P.R. China; Wei Zong, Scholar, University Putra, Malaysia; Xiaoran FU, Scholar, Yunnan Minzu University, P.R. China
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