India trying to lure Bangladesh

According to an article by Abhinav Singh, India’s eastern neighbour, Bangladesh in clear words and through its firm actions has sent a message to both China and Pakistan that despite their best efforts to turn Dhaka against New Delhi, the Sheikh Hasina administration is standing ever so stronger with the Narendra Modi government.

With access to Chittagong port, Bangladesh and India put the final nail in the coffin of China’s ‘String of Pearls’

Reportedly, in what comes as a major development, India has now gained access to the crucial Chittagong Port after it was offered by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the north-eastern Indian states of Assam and Tripura for trade and uninterrupted commerce.

The announcement came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the Bangladeshi PM for a brief meeting in Dhaka lately. During the meeting, Hasina told Jaishankar that enhanced connectivity through the Chittagong Port was needed for mutual benefit which would particularly benefit India’s north-eastern region.

She said, “If the connectivity is increased, the Indian north-eastern states -like Assam and Tripura- can have access to the seaport in Chattogram.”

New Delhi invites Hasina

Returning the favour and thanking Hasina for the reception, Jaishankar on PM Modi’s behalf, extended the invitation to Hasina to visit India. He said, “I conveyed (her) that we look forward to her visit to India at a time of her convenience.”

The EAM also took to Twitter to remark, “Thank Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her warm reception. Conveyed personal greetings of PM @narendramodi. Our bilateral relations are moving from strength to strength under the guidance of the two leaders.”

It is pertinent to note that the Chittagong Port is the main seaport of Bangladesh located in the port city of Chittagong on the banks of the Karnaphuli River. The port handles 80% of Bangladesh’s export-import trade and has been used by India, Nepal, and Bhutan for trans-shipment.

China’s string of pearls strategy

As reported extensively by TFI, when it comes to the maritime tussle between India and China, the past one decade has been all about the “String of Pearls”– Beijing’s strategy of jeopardizing India’s interests in her own vicinity by building naval bases in the strategically located points of the Indian Ocean Region.

The Dragon has been concentrating on the Strait of Malacca, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Maldives and the Strait of Hormuz in order to checkmate India in the area of its traditional influence, viz. the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Hambantota and Gwadar Ports

It was under this strategy that China usurped control over Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port and Pakistan’s Gwadar port. Thus, Bangladesh and its strategically important ports also appeared to be the next target for Beijing.

However, New Delhi, in recent times has upped its bilateral engagement with Bangladesh and managed to outpace China. As reported by TFI last year, Gowher Rizvi, international affairs advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had remarked that Dhaka was more interested in joining the “Indo-Pacific relationship”, rather than being a part of Beijing’s neo-colonial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Gowher had said, “India is our most important partner and you cannot conceive of anything different. It would be suicidal to think differently.”

Gowher also pointed out that China had a role to play in Bangladesh’s growth story but it didn’t come at the expense of New Delhi. “China has a role in Bangladesh. They are an important part of our many development projects. But this is not in any way at the expense of our relationship with India.”

New Delhi extending credit line to Dhaka

Moreover, in December last year, India extended a US$500 million line of credit to Bangladesh, under which Dhaka will soon import Indian defence equipment. China sells substandard defence equipment in the name of cutting-edge defence technology to Bangladesh. By extending the credit line, India is aiming to nullify China’s control and bring the Eastern neighbour closer to its corner.

With India gaining access to the Chittagong Port, China’s evil ambition of surrounding India has been dealt a cruel blow. In fact, New Delhi is on a red-hot form currently regarding its foreign policy. It has already sorted Nepal and Sri Lanka despite China’s desperate attempts to breed chaos. Similarly, the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh are at their highest in recent history.

 

India opposing CPEC

Indian Ocean is the oldest and most efficient trade corridor. On its one side are hydrocarbon rich countries and on the other side are energy deficient but major energy consuming and industrially developed countries. The ships carrying goods destined for Europe using Suez Canal also passes through Indian Ocean. In order to provide security to their maritime trade navies of different countries are also present in the Indian Ocean. In the recent past pirates having safe sanctuaries in Somalia have created serious havoc, which prompted many countries to further enhance their presence in the Indian Ocean, which also included India.

India not only claims that it is the strongest regional super power, but also openly denounces any world super power that refuses to accept its hegemony in the Indian Ocean. India is fully cognizant of the fact that bulk of the international trade, energy products, consumable and capital goods pass through Indian Ocean. It is also a fact that India and China have never enjoyed cordial relationships; in fact they are involved in boarder disputes for decades. In such a scenario, China has no option but to protect its maritime trade, particularly movement of energy products. The US Navy is also active in Indian Ocean and it has been constantly increasing its presence around Striate of Hurmaz and in the Malacca Striate. In South China Sea dispute, Japan and Korea are fully supported by the US, which also wishes to contain Chinese growth.

India has emerged as the biggest opponent of Chinese program, which is commonly known as ‘String of Pearls’. Under this program China is building sea ports in various countries and out of these Gwadar is one. While China says that all these ports fall under the category of ‘Listening Ports’ that helps in the movement of merchant ships. However, India has been refuting Chinese claim and call these ‘Chinese Naval Bases’ and term these a serious threat to its sovereignty.

India is actively operating in Afghanistan, under the disguise of developmental work. Afghanistan is a land locked country and bulk of its transit goods having been passing through Pakistan for ages. India often complains that its Afghan destined goods are not allowed to pass through Pakistan conveniently. In this backdrop India has invested huge amounts in constructing Chabahar port in Iran and linking it to the Central Asian Countries via Afghanistan by road and rail. While the Indian endeavor may succeed in offering an alternative route, the undeniable fact is that Pakistan offers the shortest and the most efficient passage to Afghanistan. This fact became most obvious when Pakistan stopped movement of NATO supplies though land route.

Pakistan decided to handover management control of Gwadar Port to China and also entered into an agreement for the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The corridor will link Gwadar with Kashgar and enable China to contain transit time of its imports/exports. The goods will move on-land rather than sea. Under CPEC, Gwadar port will be linked to china by construction of allied infrastructure­ - road and railway track. India is opposing construction of CPEC section passing through newly constituted Gilgit-Baltistan Province of Pakistan.

With the commencement of full scale activities at Gwadar Port and construction of road and rail networks, Baluchistan is likely to reap enormous benefits. Over the years India has been supporting rebel groups and supplying them funds and arms. A banned outfit Jundullah had enjoyed external support but the group was disintegrated after the hanging of its chief in Iran. Lately, ‘Free Baluchistan’ banners were seen in Switzerland and analysts suspect that it is the work of those Baloch groups who have obtained political asylum there.

One can still recall that India announced to disassociate itself from Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project due to security reasons as the gas pipeline has to pass through troubled Baluchistan province. Later on, it dawned that another gas pipeline project, Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) was being sponsored by the opponents of IPI.  A point beyond comprehension was that India decided to quit IPI because of security issue in Baluchistan, but joined TAPI that has to pass through war-torn Afghanistan.

A substantial part of road network that will ultimately become part of the CPEC has already been constructed and now it is being revamped to offer speedy and safe mode of transportation. It is believed that CPEC will change the entire landscape. India has the realization that it has missed the opportunity by strangulating its relationship with China. It also fears that Chabahar port would never be as efficient and cost effective as Gwadar. Therefore, it is making last ditched efforts to sabotage Gwadr Port and CPEC projects. Now it is the responsibility of all the Pakistanis to frustrate Indian efforts and make Pakistan ‘natural corridor for trade and energy’.

This article was originally published in Pakistan & Gulf Economist