Dhaka: China on Thursday said it was “determined” to build an economic corridor with Bangladesh and Myanmar but remained open to “other countries” joining its “cross-border initiative” – a project on India’s eastern flank that reflects the strategic role of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on its western border.Bangladesh Prime Minister Tariq Rehman discussed the corridor during his recent visit to China, proposing to strengthen connectivity, especially multimodal links from China’s Kunming to Bangladeshi ports, where Dhaka handed over the contract to develop the economic zone to Beijing after scrapping its agreement with India. Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen told reporters that “Dhaka and Beijing also agreed to explore a ‘2+2’ dialogue mechanism in the fields of diplomacy and defense.”Regarding the proposed corridor – which, if implemented, would give China access to the Bay of Bengal much like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor does to the Arabian Sea – Yao said the idea of building such a project was not new. “There were discussions on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, but no progress was made,” he said, referring to an abandoned 1999 plan that proposed connecting the countries by road, rail, waterways and air.“This (China-Bangladesh) cooperation is not the end of the game. We are open-minded and welcome other countries that are willing to join. But it is up to them to decide whether they are willing to participate or wait,” he said.Relations between China and Bangladesh have been on the rise since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister in 2024, with both sides involved in several important initiatives, including defence, including the Teesta River restoration project and reports of Chinese aid in developing the Ramonirhat air base near India’s eastern border, an agreement to set up a drone manufacturing and technology transfer factory in Dhaka, and the Mongla port contract that has attracted New Delhi’s attention.
