Chinese investments in Bangladesh shouldn’t concern India: Shahriar Alam
Chinese investments in Bangladesh should not be a "matter of concern" for India, as nothing compares to the "time-tested" India-Bangladesh relations, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam was quoted as saying in an interview.
"Anti-liberation forces" that had been behind the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and had made attempts on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, "spew venom against India but have now weakened and lost credibility and acceptance among the masses," the state minister told PTI in Kolkata last week.
He did not rule out the "possibilities" of Pakistan's involvement in fanning anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh but declined to "jump to conclusions" as he doesn't want Bangladesh to be a possible proxy ground for India-Pakistan bilateral issues.
"Our relations with India cannot be compared (with any other countries). There is nothing to be concerned about. The government of India understands this loud and clear.
"Of course, China has excelled on many fronts. If you look at world trade, even countries that do not get along with China have it as their biggest trading partner. They are a trading partner for Bangladesh as well. They come up with fantastic business proposals for private and public sectors," Alam said.
He said there are a lot of misconceptions about growing Chinese investments in Bangladesh, our New Delhi correspondent reports.
"Someone asked me whether we were building the Padma Bridge with Chinese funding. It is completely wrong. Not a single Chinese penny has been used. The bridge is being built by a Chinese contractor, an individual party. Their government is not involved. This is how things get lost in translation," he said.
"During the last visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, a number of projects were discussed but not even half of those got a go-ahead. Even India has agreed on many more projects with China than we did," Alam further said during his recent visit to Kolkata.
He said Bangladesh's foreign policy stands for "friendship with all and malice to none".
Alam said issues such as fighting extremism for regional peace and eradicating poverty are of utmost importance to the bilateral relations of India and Bangladesh.
He said, "a tripartite initiative between India, Bangladesh and Myanmar to fight conflicts is much needed. Bangladesh is also walking an extra mile to assist Indian forces in fighting insurgencies in states bordering our country."
PTI quoted the state minister as saying that Bangladesh has made progress in defence and communication with India's soft loan of USD 500 million.
"We have made progress not only in defence procurements but also in communication. But some bureaucratic issues are yet to be cleared for successfully utilising the line of credit. So, there is some slowness in the entire affair," he said.
Alam said "certain things" were agreed upon during Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla's recent visit to Bangladesh to speed up the entire process.
"The Indian and Bangladeshi foreign secretaries discussed the issue and agreed on certain things. Hopefully, that will speed things up. India's investment in our infrastructure is another dimension to our relationship," he added.