Dhaka : Bangladesh will have to suffer major losses if it decides to join the QUAD cooperation between India, Japan, Australia and the United States. China threatened that this would hurt the China-Bangladesh relations. Bangladesh Foreign Minister accused that this was a very aggressive warning and warned China that this is unfortunate.
Li Jiming, the Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, warned Bangladesh regarding QUAD. Joining a group like QUAD will not be a good development for Bangladesh. Ambassador Jiming warned that the bilateral relations between China and Bangladesh would get strained if Bangladesh joined QUAD. Although it is being claimed that QUAD is an economy and Security related organisation, it is not true. Jiming accused while speaking to the media that this is a strategic build-up against China. Bangladesh will not gain anything by joining that group. Jiming added that instead, Bangladesh may suffer losses.
Before this, on 27th April, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe visited Bangladesh. The media was full of reports that the visit of the Chinese Defence Minister was only to warn Bangladesh regarding QUAD. Following Bangladesh, the Chinese Defence Minister also visited Sri Lanka. It is claimed that the reason behind the visit of the Chinese Defence Minister was the same. But both the countries have not reacted very positively. Therefore, now China seems to have gone one step further to issue threats instead of warnings. The harsh and aggressive language used by Jiming only endorses this.
But the reaction of the Bangladesh Foreign Minister shows that the Chinese threat will not have any effect. Bangladesh Foreign Minister DR AK Abdul Momen said that Chinese language is any Chinese diplomat has never used aggressive and such language in the past. This is a very unfortunate development, and Bangladesh has been offended by this.’
Foreign Minister Momen also lambasted China saying that Bangladesh is a sovereign country and Bangladesh decides its foreign policies. Foreign Minister Momen also clarified that Bangladesh foreign policy is neutral and balanced; the country is free to take any decision relevant to the foreign policy. An official from the Bangladesh foreign ministry informed the media that Bangladesh has received no proposal for joining QUAD.
China had claimed that although the QUAD cooperation was established by India, the United States, Japan and Australia to stop China, they will not be able to do anything against China. But last month, the US President took the initiative to organise a virtual conference of the QUAD country heads. Discussions for expanding QUAD were started in the following period. The naval war exercises between the QUAD countries and France were also held in the Bay of Bengal. Indications are that countries like France and the United Kingdom are keen to join QUAD. Canada and South Korea also may be included in QUAD. Discussions had also started for the inclusion of Bangladesh in QUAD.
China, who was initially scoffed at QUAD, has now started feeling insecure. The insecurity is being highlighted in the threat issued to Bangladesh. China seems to have pushed Bangladesh away with such threats. This mistake on the diplomatic level could prove very costly for China. China has already increased concerns for Bangladesh by building a dam on the Brahmaputra river. Because the river originating in Tibet flows into India, followed by Bangladesh. If the water in the river is reduced, even Bangladesh will be hit. Therefore, China can use this dam as a weapon against India and Bangladesh. Thus, India and Bangladesh have increased cooperation over this issue.
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