As Chinese shadow lingers on Delhi, Dhaka watch on faux pas
DHAKA/KOLKATA : As Chinese shadow lingers on in Bangladesh – Begum Hasina still undecided on her visit to Delhi – politicians, especially liberals in Dhaka, think big and small neighbours watch on an expensive diplomatic mutual faux pass.
Dhaka without caring for its big neighbour allowed China to get in with $ 39 billion aid and two submarines to take care of Dhaka’s Indian Ocean, and Delhi feels it’s wise not to ask when Hasina would finally come when she was supposed to visit India 18th last month,’’ said an unhappy top Awami League leader.
The liberals, especially the Awami League allies, feel development funds and submarines ok but Hasina Government cannot visualize a safe diplomatic future keeping India out of perspective with whom it shares borders on three sides.
Nor India notwithstanding knowing well Chinese design of encircling India with enemy states and temperamentally distanced neighbours, doing well diplomatically by ignoring Hasina’s feet-dragging on visit as she wants to avoid unpleasant questions about China,’’ admitted a Dhaka columnist.
Though despite enquiries in Delhi and top BJP leaders no answer was forthcoming on issue of Hasina’s visit, a Delhi University expert in international relations, felt as “classical diplomatic guidelines tell us no state can afford to ignore any neighbour whether small, powerful, less powerful, rogue (like erstwhile America- and now China-backed nuclear Pakistan) or any big neighbours.’’
Instead Dhaka could have entered into a mode of diplomatic bargain with Delhi and got a protective defence pact and got funds to propel its agenda of development which would have taken care of its developmental and defence needs,’’ said a leader of an Awami League ally.
All said and done there has been no visible reaction from PMO either why `no enquiries are made’ from Indian side about Hasina’s delaying her visit. “At least nothing is made public, we haven’t seen any reaction,’’ said
a top Indian diplomatic correspondent to this writer.Nor we know to what point Hasina would finally delay her visit,’’ echoed a Bangladesh bureaucrat.Thus, only time will tell us to what point China would carry itself into an erstwhile India-friendly Bangladesh. “Or if it would be a counter-point to India having agreed to sell missile to Vietnam, feel observers.
