WORLD
The proposed Chinese air base may give Beijing an upper hand because the district of Lalmonirhat is situated near the Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar districts in West Bengal.
Did Bangladesh's interim government's chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, discuss the construction of a Chinese air base in Lalmonirhat district during his meeting with President Xi Jinping? How may the proposed air base challenge the security of India and change the geopolitics of Southeast Asia?
Did Muhammad Yunus discuss Chinese air base?
If media reports are to be believed, the security establishment mandarins of India are upset with the development. It is believed that the issue figured in the talks between the Nobel laureate and the Chinese authorities. The proposed Chinese air base may upset the present security arrangement and give Beijing an upper hand because the district of Lalmonirhat is situated near the Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar districts of the state of West Bengal in India.
Where in Bangladesh may China construct air base?
Lalmonirhat, situated in the Rangpur Division of Bangladesh, has a now-defunct Second World War airbase. The town is only 178 kilometres away from the Chicken's Neck or the Siliguri Corridor. The 22-kilometer-wide corridor, sandwiched between Nepal and Bangladesh, is the only link connecting the northeastern states to the rest of India.
Muhammad Yunus ruffled the feathers unnecessarily during his China visit where he said that since the seven Indian states of the northeast are landlocked, Bangladesh is the guardian of the seas in the area. He said, "Seven states of India, eastern part of India, called seven sisters… they are landlocked country, landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean."
Muhammad Yunus: 7 sisters are landlocked country
Elaborating on the benefit of doing business in Bangladesh, the chief adviser said, "We are the only guardian of the ocean for all this region. So this opens up a huge possibility. So this could be an extension of the Chinese economy. Build things, produce things, market things, bring things to China, bring it out to the whole rest of the world."
An upset Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar reminded Dhaka at the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok days later that India has the largest sea in the Indian Ocean.
Analysts believe any access to China near Chicken's Neck may make the entire northeast, Sikkim and West Bengal highly vulnerable, though no Chinese Air Force fighter jet has been stationed in the eastern neighbourhood till now.
Bangladesh-Pakistan bonhomie
Bangladesh has set the alarm bell ringing also by declaring that a high-level Pakistani delegation will soon visit Dhaka. While Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to visit Bangladesh from April 24, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch is expected to land in Dhaka on April 17. It will be the first ministerial visit from Pakistan to Dhaka in the last 13 years. Bangladesh got independence from Pakistan after a bloody war with the help of India in 1971. Tens of thousands of citizens were killed, thousands of women were raped and almost one crore people were made homeless in the war.
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