Bangladesh must maintain a balanced role
China’s ambitious super-mega project BRI at a cost of around $1 trillion has already been dubbed as the Silk Road of the 21st Century. The project involves the construction of roads and shipping communications though countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Here, the South Asian countries need to play a great role in the implementation of the project though several regional countries including, Sri Lanka and Nepal, have yet to decide how their participation would be. However, India has already raised objection showing CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) as one of its crucial routes will go through Pakistan-governed Kashmir that India claims as its own land.
But significantly, India has no objection regarding the implementation of the proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor at its eastern border. In this situation, I think, Bangladesh must maintain a balanced diplomacy in the implementation process of BRI.
Supriya Mazumdar
Moghbazar, Dhaka
