BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

BANGLADESH’S RELATIONS WITH INDIA AND CHINA: THE REGIONAL CONTEXT AND STRATEGIES FOR BANGLADESH

Author: M Ashique Rahman

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2025v46n2a5

ABSTRACT

India and China are the key countries for Bangladesh given its intertwined national interests and foreign policy priorities. In the past one and half decades Bangladesh-India relations has experienced an unprecedented bonhomie although criticisms were also there regarding lack of reciprocity and ardent effort to resolve some of the outstanding issues most prominently border killing and Teesta water sharing. In the post-2024 revolution period, the relationship is going through a revisionary phase. Bangladesh-China relations, on the other hand, has grown steadily in the past five decades and poised towards a new height. However, Bangladesh faces constraints in advancing its relationship with both the countries as enhanced relationship with one is conceived by another (especially India) as detrimental to its strategic objectives in the region. India-China disputes and their geopolitical and strategic competition in the South Asian region for influence and clout are engendering such constraining situation for Bangladesh. In this context, the present paper intends to raise and answer the question what strategies should Bangladesh follow to achieve its own national interests of maintaining best relationships with both the countries. Majority argues for “balancing strategy”. It is to be noted that, from IR perspective, balancing strategy has specific connotations which are not commensurate with Bangladesh’s foreign policy principles. Rather, it is suggested in the paper that, Bangladesh as a small state and to some extent as a rising middle power needs to adopt the “hedging strategy”. Subsequently, the paper lays out the components and criteria of the hedging strategy for Bangladesh. It is to be noted that hedging strategy in IR scholarship is still an evolving concept hence, further research is warranted to devise a more appropriate and fitting strategy for Bangladesh.