China says India need not ‘jealous’ of deepening ties between Beijing and Dhaka

Chinese PresidentXi Jinping is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on October 14 just ahead his visit to Goa where he will be attending the BRICS summit.

“India will not need to be jealous of an increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Dhaka, because the improvement of local infrastructure and the overall economic ecology in Bangladesh will create favorable external conditions for connecting with markets in India, China and Southeast Asia,” the state-run Global Times reported in its article published yesterday.

“However, it would not necessarily be a bad thing if an increasingly close relationship between China and Bangladesh puts some pressure on New Delhi to rethink its strategy in this region and encourages it to put more effort into improving relations with China during the upcoming meeting between President Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS summit,” it added.

The paper further stated that “There have been misconceptions in India that China may feel unhappy if South Asian countries such as Bangladesh forge close ties with India and that China feels the need to build closer ties with Bangladesh”.

The write –up said “Bangladesh’s geographic location makes it an irreplaceable link connecting India and China, and efforts to boost the local economy and improve infrastructure in Bangladesh could bring development momentum for the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor”.

It added that Xi’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh is likely to raise bilateral relations to new heights and result in a large amount of investment and loans to improve local infrastructure in the South Asian country.

(thebiharpost.com/IBNS)