Why Bangladesh Asking China to Handle a River Close to India’s Delicate Siliguri Hall Issues
3 min learnNew DelhiUp to date: Could 7, 2026 06:13 PM IST
Bangladesh’s new governmentheaded by Tarique Rahman, has formally sought China’s involvement and assist for the Teesta River restoration mission, a transfer that will solid shadow on New Delhi-Dhaka ties.
The problems regarding the Teesta River Complete Administration and Restoration Challenge (TRCMRP) have been mentioned in a gathering between Bangladesh’s International Minister Khalilur Rahman and his Chinese language counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, in line with state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) information company.
The Teesta River flows from the jap Himalayas via Sikkim and West Bengal earlier than getting into Bangladesh, the place it’s a key supply of irrigation and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Expressing assist for the brand new Bangladesh authorities, Wang was quoted saying by BSS information company that China is able to promote the alignment of the high-quality Belt and Street cooperation with Bangladesh’s nationwide growth methods and deepen cooperation in conventional areas like economic system, infrastructure, and people-to-people exchanges, amongst others.
The federal government may also encourage Chinese language enterprises to spend money on Bangladesh, he stated.
In accordance with the Chinese language official readout, Wang careworn that China’s growth of relations with Bangladesh and different South Asian international locations doesn’t goal any third celebration, nor ought to or not it’s affected by any third celebration.
That is Rahman’s first go to to China after the brand new authorities headed by Tarique Rahman took over energy in February this 12 months. He arrived right here on Could 5 and is scheduled to go away on Thursday.
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Final month, Rahman was in India. His talks with Indian leaders have been intently watched in Beijing because the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus had moved nearer to China and Pakistan after the autumn of Sheikh Hasinastraining ties between Dhaka and New Delhi.
China has for years proven curiosity in growing the TRCMRP, situated close to India’s delicate Siliguri Hall connecting the mainland with the North-eastern states.
Towards this backdrop, India in 2024 provided technical and conservation help for the Teesta basin, reflecting Delhi’s efforts to deepen cooperation with Dhaka on transboundary river administration.
Water sharing stays a key situation in bilateral ties, with the India-Bangladesh Ganges Water Treaty signed in 1996 for 30 years to manipulate dry-season sharing of the Ganges river “ as a consequence of expire this 12 months until renewed.
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The event comes at a time when China has expanded its financial and diplomatic footprint in Bangladesh in recent times.
China is Bangladesh’s fourth-largest lender after Japan, the World Financial institution and the Asian Growth Financial institution, with complete loans disbursed since 1975 amounting to USD 7.5 billion, in line with Bangladeshi media studies.
Throughout Wednesday’s assembly, Bangladesh and China agreed to reinforce synergy between their growth methods to advance the China-Bangladesh Complete Strategic Cooperative Partnership.
Bangladesh reiterated its agency adherence to the One-China precept and reaffirmed that Taiwan is an inalienable a part of China’s territory, whereas expressing opposition to any type of “Taiwan independence”, the BSS report stated.
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China, in flip, reiterated its assist for Bangladesh in safeguarding its nationwide independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and expressed assist for the event path independently chosen by the folks of Bangladesh.
