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What message we got?

Published : Wednesday, 19 October, 2016 at 12:00 AM  Count : 264
Haradhan Ganguly
If "the string of pearl theory" is apt for the go of our aspiration of rising, we would embrace China in all her cooperation without having any prejudice of an imaginary loss of bilateralism with others. If such cooperation ensures not to be detrimental to any regional integrity and nearness meant for joint uplift and forging fortified shield against terrorism of all sorts, we would call upon China even forgetting her role in our liberation war and recognising Bangladesh after the assassination of the Father of the Nation. Since time has graduated to a supersonic speed of change. China's "string of pearl" diplomacy designed for strengthening her stay in the region of the Indian Ocean which saw its stretch from the main land to port Sudan. China dreams of a regional connectivity taking into Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka into account.
What is the message we have got from the sojourn of Xi Jinping and its background? For over three decades, China has been the fastest growing economy of the world. It is also the leading example of export led growth. China has successfully transformed its agrarian economy into a manufacturing powerhouse that in turn has been fuelled by successful penetration in the global manufacturing markets. Considerable social progress has also been made in terms of poverty reduction and development of human skills. As we told, China is the world's largest economy when gross national income (GNI) is measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. According to the IMF World Economic Outlook 2016, total GNI for China in PPP terms stood at $20.9 trillion as compared to $18.6 trillion for the USA. In nominal dollars, China is the second largest economy at $11.8 trillion (16 per cent of world total) as compared to $18.6 trillion (25 per cent of world total) for USA.
China is the world's largest exporting country. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) data, China's merchandise export stood at $2,275 billion in 2015 (13 per cent of world total). Exports from the world's second largest exporting country, the USA, amounted to $1,505. The roles are reversed when imports are considered. The value of the world's largest importer, the USA, stood at $2,308 billion (14 per cent of world total) as compared to $1,682 billion (10 per cent of world total) for the second largest importing country, China.
China's total foreign investments and construction contracts is estimated by the American Heritage Enterprise (AHE) as $1.2 trillion between 2005 and 2016 in some 40 countries. In 2015, investment alone amounted to $110 billion, which is the highest ever for China. The largest recipients are the USA and Australia.
So to us, the real message the Chinese president Xi Jinping gave is the investment, yes only the investment apart from any gossip or apprehension of politics. Mind it, China has huge investible surplus. The basic religion of surplus resources is to find markets home and abroad for investment. China's dynamic polity is following that tenet of that religion. It is the number one message. Number two is the throwing of Asia-based institutional challenges to USA-led western world of their neo-liberalism. Growing China dreams to lead Asia in challenges of Western neo-liberalism without distorting markets. We never forget under his leadership the formation of a Bank parallel to World Bank. His weighty role in BRICS could not be underestimated. The 21st century is the century for Asia.
In our context, Bangladesh can immensely benefit from China without going in contradiction with other neighbourly countries. A broad lesson can be beneficial for Bangladesh. A coherent approach to knowledge transfer involving research, policy level exchange and business and people to people interactions can provide useful inputs to policy formulation in Bangladesh to facilitate its own journey to achieve higher middle income country status and eliminate extreme poverty. Bangladesh can also benefit directly from China for better trade, investment, infrastructure support and regional cooperation. The opportunities from trade, investment and infrastructure are best understood by looking at China's global strength. Any investment that ultimately addresses our capacity build-up is welcoming to us without regarding the source of it. But it must be unconditional and free from any political equations. The very visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping must be weighed in light of it.
The policy of "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" which is called "Belt and Road" policy could be a complementary to our efforts for development. Though diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and China was of 41 years old, but mind it, over the years there has been a gradual transformation of the economic relationship between these two countries. With about $9.0 billion, China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner. There is now an increasing interest in attracting Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) and support from China for developing the infrastructure of Bangladesh. China has built up seven bridges and one is under construction. Still, China fits the best in terms of helping Bangladesh secure its own development objectives and targets.
One has to see cooperation could not bring about dependency since "friends are not masters." At least repetition of Sri Lanka's example is not hoped for. Here needs a watchful eye on. On the other hand, the extent of cooperation must match the capability of absorption power. That is, the capacities of implementing agencies, efficiency level of bureaucracy, status of human resources, prevailing state of governance in administration and condition of doing business. Any short of this, cooperation would be snapped half way. If timely implementation of projects is delayed, inefficiency and corruption overwhelm, there are instances in other country that China withdraw its support leaving the project half done. During Xi Jinping's visit, China signed with Bangladesh 27 deals worth $24.45 billion in soft loan, the biggest ever investment deals on Silk Road initiative for various key development projects. Not only this, 13 joint venture  agreements involving $13.6 billion of Chinese investment was signed between 13 Bangladeshi entities and Chinese companies. Future would tell us the fate of their implementation. But our cooperation with China in no way contradicts our relation with India. Rather our infrastructure development facilitates India for transit. Here some media comments have narrowly touched it. Thanks to our pragmatic foreign policy to pursue friendship to all, malice to none.r
Haradhan Ganguly, a freelance contributor, is Secretary, United Nations Association of Bangladesh. Email: haradhan@gmail.com


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