US wants conditions conducive to fair polls
Bangladesh's relationship with US remains a robust one. Despite some strain after Washington's sanctions on Rab officials and Bangladesh not being invited to Biden's Democracy Summit, the engagement between Dhaka and Washington has been growing. What is the reason behind the world's leading superpower's rising interest?
US Ambassador Peter Haas shared his views during his visit to The Daily Star on March 19.
The Daily Star (DS): A series of recent visits by top US officials to Bangladesh shows Washington's renewed interest in this country. What attracts the US towards us?
Haas: I wouldn't characterise it as renewed interest, but as deep interest, which we couldn't display during the time of Covid. So, it's a re-engagement. There is a wide array of issues that we have to work on together. Whether it's questions of human rights, about business, security, assistance on Covid, Rohingya issue. There are also people-to-people exchanges. There're just thousands of things that we work together on with Bangladesh. And so, it's no surprisethat people [officials] are coming here now that there are no travel restrictions.
DS: There's an impasse between the ruling Awami League and BNP over polls-time administration. Do you think the election will be free and fair, as the US has called for?
Haas: I am very pleased to hear from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and others about the guarantee that the election will be free and fair. I think it's important that you go back to some of the UN documents because there are international standards that members have agreed on as it relates to free and fair elections, and there are things like freedom of political association, peaceful assembly, freedom of movement, information, political expression, and freedom from coercion or violence. I think those are the standards by which we need to look at free and fair elections.
The US has no role in deciding or even having an opinion on a caretaker government or non-caretaker government. We want all of the conditions to be in place, where all parties believe that they can compete fairly and have a chance to win if that's what the Bangladeshi people want.
DS: There are concerns that the US's BURMA Act may destabilise the region when you support the democratic forces of Myanmar, including the National Unity Government. Many experts say this may cause tensions to escalate between the US and China-Russia and their allies. What is you view on this?
Haas: I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding about the BURMA Act. Our goal is clear -- restoring democracy in Burma. And with that, an ability for the Rohingya people to return with full dignity, full rights, and voluntarily. And the BURMA Act is designed to promote that. One of the main elements of the act is to call upon the US government to increase its use of sanctions against the Myanmar military, and against those who provide weapons and support to the military. Another part of it is providing assistance to some of the opposition groups working for democracy. But the legislation is very clear that it is humanitarian assistance only, not designed in any way to provide any kind of military assistance.
DS: What may be the timeframe for Rohingya repatriation?
Haas: It really all depends upon the military regime in Myanmar. We are continuously increasing our [the US's] pressure on them. We declared what they did against the Rohingyas to be genocide. We continue to work with the UN and the global community to try and increase pressure on them. Also, we continue to try and support Bangladesh, which has been sheltering the Rohingyas from almost six years ago.
DS: Funding for the Rohingyas has significantly declined amid the Ukraine-Russia war and has become a concern for Bangladesh. What are your thoughts on the situation?
Haas: It's an absolutely horrific situation that further traumatises the refugees, and one that could further destabilise the camps. I think there's a couple of important things. One is that the number of countries that provides financial support to the Rohingya refugee response is relatively small. So, some of us are cutting our funding, but there are a lot of important countries out there who do not provide funding … perhaps they could.
The other is a close look at the policies as they relate to the camps -- whether or not refugees there are currently allowed to work and have formal sources of income. Now, they're entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance. If they were given a chance to have a livelihood, that could help. Similarly, if some of the shelters were allowed to be made more permanent, it would lessen the need for donors to have to rebuild things after fires.
DS: Bangladesh is seriously seeking foreign investment and funds for climate adaptation and technology transfer for renewable energy. The response is not encouraging yet. Why?
Haas: The US is the largest foreign direct investor in Bangladesh and we want to maintain that, and to build upon what has already been done in the energy sector. We will continue to be in the energy sector where Bangladesh has the greatest need, but also has a fair amount of unexplored resources.
There are also US companies looking at renewable energy and other projects as a possibility. I think the key thing is that Bangladesh has a lot of advantages. It's got a large and fast growing market, an increasingly large middle class and lots of hardworking people.
So, American companies will be looking here, but they will also be looking at some of Bangladesh's competitors in the region. It can be a great environment here, but if a neighbouring country is just a little better, then the investment is going to go there. Bangladesh has started working on a number of things that may scare investors away. Things like corruption, investors' inability to get quick judicial decisions, enforceability of contract and inability to move money in and out of the country. As Bangladesh continues to address these, I think more and more US companies will come here.
DS: Bangladesh has drafted its own Indo-Pacific Outlook in the context of global focus in the region. You have the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and there are alliances like the QUAD, AUKUS and China's BRI. There are also security elements in those, but Bangladesh is more interested in economic aspects. What's your response?
Haas: I think there is a misunderstanding about whether these are alliances. Certainly not in the traditional military sense. QUAD is not an alliance. It is for countries that cooperate together across a whole range of things like climate change, renewable energy infrastructure and Covid. Similarly, our IPS is not an alliance, but it's about five ideas that we have for this region -- that it should be open, prosperous, connected, resilient, and secure.
So, of the five objectives, only one has to do with security in the sense that you're talking about. It is about how we want to devote our attention to the region and what we want to emphasise. It's not about anyone having to take sides. We are not pushing for people to join the IPS. In fact, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her visit to Paris a couple of years ago laid out an initial vision of the Indo-Pacific, which was very similar to what we're talking about.
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