The foreign policy of a country is a part of total governmental policy. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appears to give priority on the acceptability of her government abroad following questionable parliamentary election of January 05, 2014. Some successes have been reaped in the meantime. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury was elected chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) on October 09 and Saber Hossain Chowdhury was elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on October 16, 2014. Bangladesh also won a seat in the Human Rights Council of the UN and became a member of the International Telecommunication Union Council (ITUC). The CPA, the IPU and the UN Human Rights Council work for democracy, human rights and good governance. The government has reasons to boast on these successes.
The Prime Minister in recent times paid visit to China, Japan and the UAE and also attended the UN General Assembly session. Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali and State Minister Md. Shahriar Alam attended more than a dozen international forums. The foreign minister also visited India. On the diplomatic front, the government has been pursuing an aggressive policy against terrorism and extremism, a subject palatable to India and the western world. It has been continuously propagating that there are extremists in Bangladesh and that the present government shows zero tolerance to terrorism and extremism. It is also propagated that the major opposition political alliance is the promoter of terrorism and extremism. Whether true or false, the government has been playing this card.
In spite of this stance, the USA, EU, Australia, Canada and some other countries are yet to be convinced on the acceptability of the January 05 parliamentary election. Even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has not forgotten the issue. During his meeting with President Abdul Hamid in New York about two months ago, the UN Secretary General reiterated the importance of political dialogue. The domestic political tension and international image bear testimony to the fact that there should be a political and constitutional arrangement for holding an inclusive and participatory election in the country.
Apart from the agenda of making the present government acceptable to the outside world, there are many pertinent issues in foreign relations. These include: (i) maintaining a balanced relationship with the USA, India, China and Japan, (ii) carefully crafted deeper relation with India, (iii) more co-operation with the neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, (iv) good relationship with the EU countries, (v) fraternal relation with the Arab countries and Malaysia and (vi) assigning importance to look east policy.
In the unipolar world, the USA is the leader. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it targeted Islamic revivalism as the enemy. The Afghan war, the Iraq war, political turmoil in Egypt, the civil war in Syria and the latest war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) bear testimony to the US's geopolitical strategy. As long as Bangladesh can maintain the image of a 'moderate Muslim country', there will be no problem with the USA on this account. Moreover, the USA is concerned with the ever-rising economic and military power of China. The US President Barack Obama pursues a policy of "Containment of China" in Asia and the pacific. But it did not meet the desired success. It is also clear that the USA is giving importance to its relation with India which is both a regional power and a potential superpower. Here lies the policy of containment of the PRC (People's Republic of China). The USA indicates its support for India's ambition of becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council and expressed its readiness to intensify co-operation in the defence areas. The US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel visited India in August last. The US was also reported to be serious about signing a defence treaty with India for five years starting from 2015.
Bangladesh has multi-dimensional relations with the USA. It has many agreements with the USA including Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue signed on May 05, 2012. The third round of partnership dialogue took place on 28-29 October 28-29, 2014 in Washington DC. But there are some recent issues of discord which include US's reservation about January 05 general election, governance and Grameen Bank reform, and Bangladesh's concern about US suspension of GSP (generalised system of preferences) facilities to Bangladesh. Bangladesh has also trade and aid relations with the PRC.
The recent proposal of constructing a deep-sea port at Sonadia, Cox's Bazar with Chinese assistance has triggered concern and interest in countries like India, USA and Japan.
The USA and India have a common perception about China as a threat to their vital interests in the region. Their concern is that Bangladesh may go within the orbit of influence of China. The perception of Japan, the single largest donor for many Asian countries including Bangladesh, about China appears to be the same.
While China is contemplating to create an economic corridor in the sub-region of Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM), Japan is advocating building the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean Industrial Growth belt with Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Japan is keen to invest in Bangladesh under the new arrangement of "Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership". During the recent visits of Bangladesh's Prime Minister to Japan and Japanese Prime Minister's to Bangladesh, there was a Japanese promise of aid and investment in Bangladesh worth of 600 billion yen in addition to the 35th official development assistance (ODA) package.
In view of the efforts of Japan for a new type of partnership in the region, Bangladesh should adopt appropriate policy measures to tap the Japanese investment. Appropriate measures are also necessary to attract Chinese investment.
India is enjoying growing international influence. It has forged close ties with the member states of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the African Union and the Arab League. The Modi government has also paid serious attention to the development of relations with SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries. Prime Minister Modi wants to improve the functioning of SAARC emphasising bilateral ties with neighbours and inclusion of both the USA and China into SAARC in some form or other.
The relation of India with Bangladesh is one of warmth as well as constraint. There arose new hopes of scaling the cordial relations between Bangladesh and India to a new height following Indian External Affairs Minister Shushma Swaraj's visit to Bangladesh and Prime Minister Hasina's meeting with Indian Premier Narendra Modi in New York. Bangladesh has already given some transit facilities to India and has been showing zero tolerance to alleged Indian rebels on its soil. But there remain some issues that plague Bangladesh-India relations. These include non-signing of the Teesta Water Agreement, construction of dams and power stations in the upstream of international rivers, delay in the ratification of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) by the Indian parliament involving mutual transfer of 162 enclaves, border killings by the BSF, free entry of Bangladeshi products to India removing non-tariff barriers, Indian investment for rail, road and water connectivity, and easy processing of visa. BJP's dream project of interconnecting all rivers in India is a concern for Bangladesh. India is erecting multiple power projects with Bhutan in the upstream of the Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar. These issues can be solved given the strong political will of both India and Bangladesh.
Above all, Bangladesh should pursue diplomacy skilfully and carefully to reap the benefits created by competition of China, India, Japan and the USA in this part of the world.
The writer is an economist
and columnists.
chowdhuryjafar@gmail.com
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