There was a time when the sovereignty of one’s country over their neighbors was ensured by the strength of enforcing your stones and bones, then came the era of swords and arrows, followed by guns and bombs. Gone are those days; now the strength of one’s nation is defined by the brand of politics and the economic growth it has attained. Bangladesh, which is a highly populated developing nation, is now finding itself in the middle of the web that has been slowly woven by its two powerful neighbors over the last decade.

India and China – the two powerful neighhbours

The big players here are India and China followed by smaller players such as Nepal and Myanmar. China is one of the biggest countries in the world with outstanding production capabilities are already economic and military superpower in its own right, but India over the last two decades has shown exceptional growth through different sectors and has become one of the biggest game changers in this region.

History shows, whenever there is an existence of the supremely more powerful nation, its neighbors tend to suffer, as they get pushed around and their policies are coerced to cater to the needs of their powerful neighbors. For example, the US and Mexico. Bangladesh has two such neighbors - India and China - who are both trying to establish their prominence on their shared boundaries while also trying to get a powerful grip over South Asia.

What makes this ordeal a little different from other such scenarios around the world is the existence of three very highly populated countries -- Bangladesh, China and India - which means that any decision made policy-wise affects huge demography at one time. India is the largest democracy in the world and China even though having a Communist government has come a long way from its stringent past. Both countries are powerful enough to take their own policy decisions. The unfortunate situation is that they now want to take the policy decisions for Bangladesh too.

Plus and minuses

India has been a long-standing friend of Bangladesh since its inception, in fact playing a significant role in the independence of Bangladesh. There still are many existing business ties in many sectors from which both parties have profited. Bangladesh being the friendly neighbor has in fact been more than favorable to India providing duty-free corridors for the transshipment of India’s goods through the Chittagong and Mongla Port.

China, on the other hand, one of the biggest opposers during Bangladesh’s independence, has now developed deep financial ties. But make no mistake it is for all intents and purposes business ties. Bangladesh has a booming ready-made garments sector, which requires a lot of raw material import from China. Further, the government of Bangladesh has been investing a lot in infrastructure development which is another front where China has great expertise and is able to profit from establishing collaboration.

The issue at hand, however, is much deeper than that. Even though there are contributions from both these countries on the economy of Bangladesh, the negatives have mounted equally. Bangladesh has been trying to work out a fair water treaty with India regarding the Farakka Barrage and the water from the Ganges River, but so far over 40 years of discussion, nothing has come to fruition. The situation with the Bangladesh-India border is equally controversial where the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have had face-off multiple times over the last two decades.

On top of that, there have been instances where Bangladeshi citizens were shot by Indian BSF without warning, sometimes even inside the borders of Bangladesh. One such instance was of Felani Khatun, a 15-year-old girl who was killed while illegally crossing the border into Bangladesh in 2011. Even though she was crossing the border illegally, using lethal force without any sort of warning and on an unarmed child is both inhumane and against the international rules of engagement and laws. This news had led to an international outcry for justice but nothing has happened to date except the repeatedly biased trial and acquittal of the accused soldier, who had killed the child in cold blood without a second thought. These are just the tip of the iceberg.

The ugly truth becomes even uglier when you see the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh. This situation has been brewing for years and when the Rohingya population were finally driven off from Myanmar, it so happened that the weapons which were used to uproot this entire population came from China, Myanmar’s biggest supplier of weapons and at the same time, the Chinese kept sending relief for the refugee Rohingyas, who have by then crossed over to Bangladesh.

But the Chinese showed their real commitment towards Myanmar’s cause when it came to sending the Rohingyas back to their land or when there was a clear demand for justice from all around blaming Myanmar for its military action. China stayed out and kept providing its support to Myanmar.

India did not stay far behind from China on the Rohingya crisis either, as their support also went to Myanmar, as both these nations pretty much pulled out their support from Bangladesh on the Rohingya crisis. As a result, Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, which is an added pressure considering the current coronavirus situation.

So, what this shows is that both China and India has only maintained business relationships, but when it comes to actual assistance on legitimate political and economic matters, they have only looked at their own interest as evidenced by their high infrastructural investment in the Rakhine State from where the Rohingyas were actually uprooted and not provided any wiggle room to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has always maintained a peaceful foreign policy and tried to maintain a fair diplomatic relationship with all countries as far as possible. For India and China, maintaining that relationship is more important than ever as they are both in close proximity to Bangladesh and both have very important financial ties to Bangladesh. But this relationship should not come at a cost of sovereignty of our own economic and political policies.

Bangladesh – still a poor country

At the end of the day, Bangladesh has to remember that it is a country with a population of nearly 180 million, with a vast majority still living under the poverty line. We call ourselves a democracy and a People’s Republic so the essence of our political policies should be of the people, by the people, for the people, for all intents and purposes. If the Chinese are willing to share their medical technologies, resources, and knowhow with Bangladesh, that too at such a difficult time, where thousands of people are getting infected by coronavirus every day and the nation is struggling to keep up with the spread due to lack of resources, then the first preference should go to the welfare of the people before concerning with the feelings of our neighbors. It is a matter of our survival.

If we want to purchase submarines for our navy, it is our right to develop our military forces and keep updated to the world around us. It is not about the fight, in fact, it is so that, we don’t have to fight. It is the deterrent so that anyone willing to engage in warfare with Bangladesh takes a moment to think about our capabilities. The need is not always there, but it does not mean it can never arise. 

About 99 percent of the world is not at war at this moment, but they are all advancing their militaries and technologies to keep their nation safe and to keep them afloat in case, they ever have to face such a situation. For a second, just consider that Bangladesh could enter into a confrontation with Myanmar over the Rohingya issue, and with our neighbors blatantly supporting Myanmar, who would we have turned to for help: our own military.

The best example of this is probably the only country with whom, we don’t have diplomatic ties, but that doesn’t mean we cannot learn from them. Israel is the country, which started from scratch with enemies at all borders, who didn’t even have the basic good relationship that Bangladesh shares with India and China. But, for its survival, Israel’s policy has always been about the welfare and survival of its people. They have stuck to their policies, made friends with the US, who was and still is the strongest ally any country can have and through multiple wars and challenges, ensured the best for their country. In the backdrop, Israel has developed itself like somewhat of a superpower.

The primary focus of Bangladesh's economic and political policies should always revolve around the welfare of its population. We care about the relationship with our neighbors, and we should continue working on that, but there is always a need to put the interest of the nation before the rest of the neighbors. It takes courage and mettle to do so and Bangladeshis are capable of it.

(The writer is an advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court. The views expressed are personal)