Why is Bangladesh PM Visiting China Immediately After Her Recent Trip to India?

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to visit China from July 8 to 10.

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, this is Hasina’s first visit to China since her new term began and her second visit in five years. Coming just days after her trip to India, Hasina’s visit to China is at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

During her stay, she will hold talks with President Xi and Premier Li Qiang, and attend a ceremony to sign cooperative agreements.

Next to Pakistan, Bangladesh is the biggest recipient of Chinese investments estimated to be over USD 25 billion.

Hasina’s Beijing visit follows her travel to New Delhi last month besides her attendance at the swearing ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third term signifying close ties between India and Bangladesh.

After her talks with Modi on June 22, both sides decided to work on a mega project to conserve and manage the cross-border Teesta River, apart from moving ahead to start negotiations on a comprehensive trade pact and boosting defence ties.

Incidentally, China has also evinced interest to build a mega project on the Teesta River. After returning from her India visit, Hasina said Bangladesh would gauge proposals from both India and China for that mega project and accept the better one for her country.