Yunus says important for Bangladesh to see China as good friend; expects ties to enter new phase

Beijing: Bangladesh interim government’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said it is "important" for his country to see China as a good friend and he expects ties between Dhaka and Beijing to enter a new phase as he wrapped up his four-day China visit on Saturday.

“Our relationship has been very strong over the years. Our business is very strong and we benefit from our collaboration with China,” Yunus said.

“Hong Lei, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also the Chief Protocol Officer of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, sees off Yunus on Saturday at the Beijing Capital International Airport at the conclusion of his historic four-day official visit to China,” a post on X by Yunus' official handle said.

Yunus was conferred an honorary doctorate degree by Peking University (PKU) here on Friday.

The Chief Adviser met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and sought stepped up investments from China to revive Bangladesh’s flagging economy, hit by political and economic crisis.

“It's very important that we see China as our good friend,” Yunus said, projecting Beijing as a balancing factor against New Delhi.

He expects bilateral relations to enter a new stage, Yunus told Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency in an interview.

After his China visit, Yunus is scheduled to visit Thailand to take part in the BIMSTEC summit. He has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but India is yet to confirm it.

In his talks with Xi, Yunus urged China to play a greater role in establishing peace, prosperity and stability for both nations.

A joint statement issued after the Xi-Yunus talks said Bangladesh welcomed Chinese companies to participate in the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project (TRCMRP).

Considering New Delhi’s sensitivities, the previous Sheikh Hasina government wanted India to do the Teesta river basin project.

Yunus highlighted last year's July-August students' mass protests in Bangladesh leading to the ouster of Hasina government in his talks with Xi, adding that the students’ movement paved a way to build a New Bangladesh.

Weeks before her ouster last year, Hasina too had made a high-profile visit to Beijing during which she held talks with Xi.

Since the Yunus government took over, China has been hosting a number of Bangladesh delegations including Bangladesh's Adviser for Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossain and hardline Islamic parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Despite the flurry of visits, analysts say Beijing is careful in making any major commitments as it watched the unfolding chaotic situation in Dhaka and the pressure mounting on 84-year-old Yunus to hold elections.

Highlighting Beijing’s perspective, an opinion piece in China’s state-run Global Times said, “for Bangladesh's interim government, it is urgent to boost the economy and address employment issues, especially youth employment”.

“In Bangladesh, unemployment among young people is a big challenge. The country has abundant human resources; however, nearly 40 percent of young people are unemployed,” it said.

“Yunus himself knows that reinvigorating the economy requires harnessing global resources. With America's strategic contraction, Bangladesh is uncertain about the extent of assistance the West can provide."

“China remains a viable option for enhancing cooperation in various fields, such as industry transfer and agriculture technology improvement,” it said.

After Yunus talks with Xi, the two countries signed nine agreements enhancing economic and technical cooperation between the two governments and cooperation in the areas of development, translation and publication of classical literary work, exchange and cooperation on cultural heritage.

Bangladesh and China have also agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as hydrological forecasting, flood prevention and disaster reduction, river dredging, integrated management of water resources, water resources development and related technology.

In the interview Yunus gave to Xinhua, Yunus said that at present, there are nearly 1,000 Chinese enterprises operating in Bangladesh. “Bangladesh's imports from China are increasing. The bulk of our industrial-use products come from China”.

Looking ahead, Yunus emphasized the economic complementarities between the two countries and their huge cooperation potential.

He also pitched for increasing cooperation in the health sector between Bangladesh and China to reduce high flows of Bangladesh patients to India for medical treatment.

Recently, the first group of Bangladeshi patients, doctors, and travel agencies went to Kunming in China's Yunnan province for medical check-ups and treatment, exploring the potential for the medical tourism market.

Meanwhile, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said China planned to operate flights from Chittagong to Kunming to enable Bangladesh people to travel to China to seek medicare instead of India.

China has dedicated four Kunming hospitals for the treatment of Bangladeshi patients, but the high cost of air ticket remains as a major impediment to travel to the Chinese city, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported.

Chinese authorities said they would open up more healthcare facilities in the country for the Bangladeshi people, the BSS said, adding, “In April, Bangladesh would also send a big team of journalists to Kunming to see for themselves the treatment facilities there.”