2024-07-15 01:10:54
Various Chinese media have reported that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the country has elevated bilateral relations between the two countries to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
China and Bangladesh have upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, according to a report by Beijing-based state-owned English-language news channel China Global Television Network CGTN.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Xi noted that China-Bangladesh are close and friendly neighbors with thousands of years of friendly exchanges.
He said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975, the two countries have always maintained mutual respect and supported each other. Treat each other with respect and engage in ‘win-win’ cooperation.
Xi said it has set a beautiful example of friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries, especially countries in the Global South. He said China is ready to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year as an opportunity to deepen the ongoing high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), expand the intensity and scope of cooperation, and develop China-Bangladesh comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
Xi stressed that the two sides should carry forward the excellent tradition of mutual assistance and deepen political mutual trust.
He said, China supports Bangladesh in adhering to an independent foreign policy, following the path of development in line with its own national situation, protecting national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and opposing any external interference.
Xi said China is ready to exchange party and state management experience and development policies with Bangladesh, strengthen the coordination of development strategies between the two sides, and deepen cooperation in trade, investment and interconnection.
He said China supports more Chinese trade to strengthen industrial and investment cooperation with Bangladesh, develop industrial and supply chains between the two countries, and support Bangladesh in its national development.
The CGTN report noted that Xi called for exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in areas such as culture, tourism, media and sports, ahead of the ‘year of people-to-people relations’ next year.
CGTN published another report on the meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Beijing.
At the meeting, China and Bangladesh announced on Wednesday the completion of a joint feasibility study on the China-Bangladesh Free-Trade Agreement and the two sides agreed to begin discussions on upgrading the bilateral investment agreement.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation memorandums on policy exchange, economy, trade and investment, digital economy, inspection and quarantine, health care, education and media, and agreed to designate 2025 as the China-Bangladesh ‘People-to-People’ Exchange Year. . In the meeting, Lee and Hasina pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields.
The People’s Daily published a report titled ‘China-Bangladesh Relations Improving, Expanding Cooperation’. The report mentions the opinions of experts. Experts describe Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China as a journey of cooperation and friendship. Experts say that the development of Sino-Bangladesh relations does not target any third party and will contribute to overall peace and stability in South Asia.
Global Times also published a report on this visit. In the report, Qian Feng, director of the research department of National Strategy Institute of Xinhua University, said that Sheikh Hasina’s visit is a link between the past and the future in the development of high-level cooperation in bilateral relations, especially in the field of economy and trade.
Qian said, the development strategies of the two countries will be further coordinated, and more economic and trade cooperation projects are expected to be implemented in the future to transmit more meaningful signals of harmony between the two countries’ strategic cooperative relations.
Qian said, the practical cooperation between the two countries is an example for South Asian countries to better understand China’s concept of good-neighborly friendship, the idea of sharing the fruits of development, and realizing China’s image as a responsible major power.
Noting that the development of China-Bangladesh relations is not aimed at any third party, Qian said, China always opposes zero-sum game and advocates mutually beneficial cooperation.
Qian said China respects Bangladesh’s strategic choices against the backdrop of complex geopolitics and has no objection to building Bangladesh’s friendly and cooperative relations with other countries.
“Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China will further enhance the traditional friendship between the two countries,” said Hu Xiang, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Hu said that through cooperation in the past years, Bangladesh has clearly seen that China’s development ideas and experience, especially the economic and technical support of Chinese companies in building Bangladesh’s infrastructure, China’s support in training local medical and health professionals in Bangladesh, and increasing the level of exchange between the people of the two countries, will contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh. And played a great role in social development.
The South China Morning Post, a private media outlet based in Hong Kong, published a report by Kawala Ji, a journalist specializing in Asian affairs. The report, titled ‘China and Bangladesh Pledge to Fight Foreign Interference and Increase Economic Cooperation’, states that President Xi Jinping said Beijing is keen to further improve diplomatic ties through his meeting with visiting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On Tuesday, Sheikh Hasina called for a reduction in her country’s interest rate in a meeting with Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank President Jean Likun.