Dhaka : With Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina expressing reservations about Chinese loans, the Belt and Road Initiative of China has suffered a setback in Bangladesh.In an interview with CNN on March 21, 2023, Sheikh Hasina said her government was “very much careful” about issues of development partnership with China.
Observers believe the negative experiences of Sri Lanka and Pakistan with BRI projects weighed heavily in her mind when the Bangladesh Prime Minister made the observation. China’s gaining control of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka under 99-year lease and a foreign exchange crisis leading to a meltdown of the Lankan economy have dramatically exposed the dangerous side of assistance under BRI. People of Pakistan are also deeply unhappy that China is exploiting the natural resources of Pakistan in the name of BRI.
“We are very much careful about taking loans. Mostly we take loans from institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. From China, our loan is very low. It is not like Sri Lanka or anybody,” she was quoted to have told CNN. On July 22, 2022, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal, too, urged developing nations to rethink their decision to accept more loans under BRI.
The reservations of Sheikh Hasina about Chinese loans should come as a relief to New Delhi, it is believed, as Beijing is trying to seize the opportunity of the delay in the signing of the Teesta water sharing deal between India and Bangladesh to sell to Dhaka the $1 billion ‘Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project.’ India will not like a major project funded by Beijing, with accompanied Chinese presence, to come up in the northern part of Bangladesh, close to the strategic Siliguri corridor that connects the north-east India with the rest of the country.
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