China’s Approach towards Bangladesh: Development of Partnership or Claw of Subjugation?

Abstract

China, an Asian superpower with its second-largest economy of the world, is working on the historical Silk Road across Eurasia not only for attaining its economic expansion throughout Asia and Europe but also intending to check her two prominent global competitors, USA and India. Although China has a long history of strong bilateral relations with Asian countries, recently, China is investing in the infrastructural sector of Bangladesh. This rapid growth of Sino-Bangladesh relationship has become a great concern for a time-tested friend and neighboring country, India. It has become a substantial debate of study, at least in the pitch of international relations and power politics.The debate actually leads to some queries, for instance, is China's economic approach towards Bangladesh to check India's power, or to counter the 'Pivot to Asia’ policy of the USA, or to take control over South Asian geopolitics? China's continuous investments in Bangladesh also portrays that China is making a field in Bangladesh to exercise its ‘debt-trap’ strategy in the name of a development partner and her BRI (Belt and Road Initiatives) execution to subjugate the region just like the cases of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This study tried to critically analyze the Sino-Bangladesh relationship to explore China's factual objects from the geopolitical perspective.