During his visit to Beijing last month, chief advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government, Mohammed Yunus positioned his country as China’s gateway to South Asia. He suggested that since India’s northeastern states are landlocked with no access to the ocean, Bangladesh is the only guardian “of the ocean in this region” and therefore “could be an extension of the Chinese economy — building, producing, and marketing goods for China and the world.”
Though Yunus’s aide clarified that the remarks have been misinterpreted, this is a serious claim being made by a supposedly friendly country of India to a notoriously malevolent China. And this claim is based on Bangladesh underscoring its geographical centrality in the Bay of Bengal and by highlighting Indian territorial vulnerabilities. It is striking not only in the audacity of its ambition but also in the nefariousness of its underlying intent.
India’s North East has been a longstanding source of anxiety for policymakers as the Siliguri Corridor — also known as the “chicken’s neck” — is vulnerable. It is a narrow land corridor — approximately 22 kms wide — between the northeastern states and the rest of India and if this corridor is cut off, the northeastern region would be isolated from the rest of the country.
The region has historically faced economic neglect, leading to a deficit in infrastructure and development, which, in turn, has affected the ability of the Indian State to effectively govern it. Economic underdevelopment has bred internal unrest. The region shares long and porous borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Bhutan, making it susceptible to external influence and cross-border infiltration.
India has made significant strides in the last 10 years to bring the region to the centre of its developmental agenda as well as strategic imagination. New Delhi’s steadfast support to Sheikh Hasina government was also premised on Dhaka providing a positive partnership to enhance connectivity of India’s North East to the wider world. Yunus’s clumsy attempt to curry favour with the Chinese will do lasting damage to India-Bangladesh ties. All the efforts that were put in place in initiating a more connected North East to the Bay of Bengal via Bangladesh will be looked at with a degree of suspicion and demand a reassessment.
Bangladesh’s desire to be able to connect South and Southeast Asia goes back to the ideals of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but Yunus has given it a new twist by linking China to the project, ignoring Indian sensitivities on the matter. This has happened at a time when India has been trying to leverage the Bimstec to make a case for India’s organic links to Southeast Asia via its northeastern region. Where India has made a proposition about the integration of South and Southeast Asia, making the Bay of Bengal central to the evolving strategic logic of the Indo-Pacific, Yunus seems to be interested in becoming an extension of the Chinese economy.
New Delhi must now accelerate the transformative governance changes it has initiated in the North East. However, the impact of Yunus’s comments could be significant in the long run. The ball is in Dhaka’s court to undertake damage control measures.
Harsh V Pant is vice president, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. The views expressed are personal
