In 2015, Bangladesh became part of the Chinese global infrastructure development strategy known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), mainly via one of its special projects known as the Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM). Eight years later, much of the initial enthusiasm seems to have vanished as a result of several factors, including the impact of the pandemic, Beijing’s own reassessment of its ambitions, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the U.S. government’s push for influence in the region, known as its Indo-Pacific strategy, resulting in a slower pace of development seven years after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit in 2016.
As a rapidly growing economy in South Asia with a thriving ready-made garments export industry, a burgeoning local manufacturing industry, and a robust inflow of remittances from overseas workers, Bangladesh has pushed for infrastructure development to become an upper-middle-income economy by 2031. This economic ambition has turned China into its largest trading partner of the past decade. Therefore, Xi’s October 2016 visit signified a promising opportunity for the country to take China’s help in developing various infrastructure projects such as railways, power plants, and other initiatives.
