Next year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s recognition of Bangladesh. It’s not a celebrated anniversary for many, least of all the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. The year, 1975, was also that of the death of her father, the country’s independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. His struggle against Pakistani domination was bitterly opposed by Beijing, where in 1971 state media described him as a “puppet countenance” and the country’s creation as “fascist nonsense”. It wasn’t until he and most of his family were gunned down that China opened relations with the country.
How times have changed. Mujib’s daughter, one of only two surviving family members from that day in August 1975, has just wrapped up a visit to Beijing. Now, Chinese state media say the two countries can “dream together,” with relations at a “new historical high.”
Their shared history dates back perhaps as far as the 4th century BC and the south-western silk road – which is precisely what the Chinese have in mind. There is bold talk of a new “economic corridor” and, as Xi Jinping, China’s president, noted on meeting Hasina, “Bangladesh is an important country along the Maritime Silk Road.”