Understanding China’s Relationship with Bangladesh

Abstract

China as an emerging global power has sought the strategy of expanding ties with many countries across the world. Bangladesh situated in a critical region has been regarded by the country as a regional partner in South Asia. Meanwhile, China’s rise has coincided with India’s growing power in the region, thus China’s relationship with countries such as Dhaka implies regional and international implications, further challenging India’s rise. Such partnership in one hand allows Bangladesh to alleviate economic difficulties, and it guarantees China’s influence and a stronger presence in South Asia to monitor India's activities. As such, by drawing upon the concepts of realism theory such as the balance of power, this study elaborates an analytical framework that presents a novel analysis of how the nature of Sino-Bangladesh partnership can be explained? In response, the authors believe that China attempts to balance the power of India and secure its national interests via developing ties with Bangladesh. Given that Bangladesh has tilted toward China these days, Beijing endeavours to enhance relations with the country to achieve its objectives. The current project becomes significant when one supposes that China’s ties with South Asian countries will not be related only to the region and China. It can have both regional and international impacts in the world affecting South Asia and, then, creating a new form of balance of power. Hence, the present research attempts to analyse the nature of Sino- Bangladesh relationship using library resources in a descriptive-analytical manner.