Instead, at the height of a bipolar, hegemonic world, China committed to an independent and self-reliant foreign policy, rejecting alliances as a Cold War antiquity inconsistent with the Chinese agenda. Under such context, Bangladesh seeking more “transactional” cooperation with China, including the $1bn Teesta Water Management project, seems like an unintended consequence of an unstructured Indian foreign policy. This is not only a smart foreign policy move from Bangladesh, but one that is timely. In 2011, the Chinese foreign minister addressed Beijing’s South China Sea ambitions with “China is a big country, others are small countries. Think hard about that.” This is the exact foreign policy outlook that allows China to justify exertion of power and forceful creation of influence in the Asian region.

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 22, 2020 16:30 UTC