China Lures Bangladesh for Creating Maritime Silk Road to Encircle India

New Delhi (ABC Live): Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on Tuesday met Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to make joint efforts to build an economic corridor(the Maritime Silk Road) linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar.

“Bangladesh is an important country along the Maritime Silk Road,” Xi said during the meeting, noting that China welcomes the Bangladeshi side’s participation in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, while pushing ahead with the economic corridor.

The moves will help to build a community of shared interests between China and Bangladesh, and benefit the people of the two countries and the region at large, according to the Chinese leader.

The concepts of the belt and maritime route were firstly proposed by Xi last year. The Silk Road connected China and Europe from around 100 B.C., while the Maritime Silk Road was used by Chinese merchants to transport silk, ceramics and tea to overseas markets.

Echoing Xi’s proposal on the belt and maritime route, Wajed said the four-nation economic corridor is of great significance for the development of South Asia and that her country will play an active role in its construction.

According to a joint statement, the two sides recognized that the development of the corridor would constitute an important vehicle to complement various regional connectivity initiatives and provide an important avenue for strengthening cooperation and sustainable development.

China and Bangladesh agreed to remain actively engaged towards the development of the corridor along with other countries, and expressed their hope of realizing mutually beneficial and result-oriented cooperation among the four countries, said the statement.

During the meeting, Xi said China attaches great importance to its ties with Bangladesh and regards the country as an important cooperative partner in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

Xi also expressed China’s support for Bangladesh’s development path and pledged to share technology and experience to reduce poverty and help spur its economy.

Bangladesh will continue to support China firmly on issues involving its core interests and major concerns, said the Bangladeshi prime minister.

Wajed is making an official visit to China from June 6 to 11 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. During the visit,During Wajed’s visit, she and the Chinese premier witnessed the signing of a string of deals regarding economic and technical cooperation, feasibility study of flood prevention and management in Bangladesh, and the construction of a multi-lane road tunnel project under the River Karnaphuli.

The Chinese side pledged to encourage its companies to invest in Bangladesh and participate in the country’s development of communication, energy, transportation and infrastructure, said the statement.

Know the Maritime Silk Road

The “maritime silk road” is an attempt at re-branding for China. Now that the concept has been officially extended as far west as Sri Lanka, its connection to the “string of pearls” is obvious. China has never officially used the term “string of pearls,” which originated in a 2005 U.S. study by defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Accordingly, China has somewhat lost control of the messaging. The “string of pearls” concept is often viewed a military initiative, with the aim of providing China’s navy access to a series of ports stretching from the South China Sea to the Arabian Sea. This has caused some apprehension, particularly in India, which sees itself as being encircled.

The new terminology of a “maritime silk road” allows China to discuss its strategy of investing in maritime infrastructure in ASEAN and further west. Even more interesting, the extension of the “maritime silk road” admits the existence of such a strategy, and gives China a way of clarifying its strategic goals.

China insists that its investment in regional maritime infrastructure is economically motivated — and points out that it will bring economic benefits to host countries. In the words of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, China’s aim in creating the “silk road economic belt” is “integrating all the existing cooperation, especially that in the field of connectivity with neighboring and regional countries and enabling everyone to share development opportunities.”

Dinesh Singh Rawat says, " India should take its position on  Maritime Silk Road keeping in mind the its strategic relevancy of Chinese move to curtail  India to become undisputed leader of south Asia. The absence of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed at Mr. Narendra Modi oath taking ceremony in New Delhi on 26 /05/2014.