New Delhi July 22 (IANS) For China’s ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, bringing Chinese corporations to Dhaka is never the only priority. Its obvious goal is to promote several key projects, adding the underwater base project, BNS Sheikh Hasina, in Pekua, Cox’s Bazar.
China has delivered two submarines to the Bangladeshi army in its desperate verification and expanded its presence on the Indian subcontinent.
Li Jiming, 58, a career diplomat, helped bring Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasin to Chinese President Xi-Jinping.
At a joint meeting across China and Bangladesh last year, Sheikh Hasina not only supported the Jinping Belt and Road (BIS) initiative, but also agreed with China’s plans to strengthen the defense industry, and added strengthening Bangladesh’s military and maritime control in the Bay of Bengal.
Though New Delhi enjoys cordial relations with the Sheikh Hasina government, Beijing eyes to increase its presence in the sub-continent through delivering subsidised infrastructure projects like ports, airports or the ongoing submarine base in Cox’s Bazar.
The main resources of Indian intelligence agencies revealed about THE IANS, the Chinese state apple Poly Technologies Inc (PTI), were responsible for the allocation of the submarine base and that a complete construction, estimated at 10.3 billion Bangladeshi takalades, had begun the site. The underwater base would have services such as docks, barracks, an ammunition depot and a fixed dock.
Sources from Indian agencies said that at Beijing’s request, Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming scored several basic infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, adding Cox’s Bazar.
Li Jiming, who had worked with Yunnan provincial government, is said to have a close relationship with senior naval commanders of the People’s Liberation Army (PLAN), which recently oversees the underwater project. Li Jiming also played a key role in the early delivery of the Chinese-made Corvette to the Bangladeshi Navy.
Bangladesh had won two China submarines in 2016-2017, playing from a makeshift base at Cox’s Bazar. After buying these submarines, Dhaka approached Beijing to lend a hand in designing an elegant submarine base for the Bangladesh Navy.
Dhaka may also be in the process of building a new naval base in Patkhauli that has an underwater dock and operational amenities for the security of the port of Payra in southern Bangladesh.
For his naval forces, Prime Minister Hasina last month ordered a Chinese Corvette called BNS Sangram. However, to balance the length of relations with her neighbor, Hasina also praised India’s direct contribution to bangladesh’s liberation. He reminded his compatriots how his father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had begun the adventure of the new independent counterattack with very limited resources.
–IANS
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