ADDRESS BY THE HON'BLE FOREIGN MINISTER AT THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN BEIJING

on: CHINA AND SOUTH ASIA - THE EMERGING RELATIONS AND THE ROLE OF BANGLADESH

Mr. President,
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

Allow me at the outset to say how privileged I feel to be invited to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and to share with you my thoughts on China and South Asia: the Emerging Relations and the Role of Bangladesh. I thank the organizers and the faculty of the Academy for arranging this important event.

The closeness and intimacy between China and South Asia is historically and geographically interlinked. China and South Asia have contiguous borders, share same rivers that originate from the Himalayas and traverse across the neighbouring countries of India, Nepal and Bangladesh before flowing in to the Bay of Bengal.

The cultural interaction between China and South Asia dates back to centuries. This has contributed to the assimilation in culture and beliefs. One major factor in this was Buddhism, which originated in South Asia and then spread throughout China and other parts of South East Asia and the Far East. Scholars from South Asia have traveled to China, taking along with them the ideas and teachings of Gautam Buddha. A Buddhist monk from Bangladesh named Atish Dipankar, traveled to China in the 11th century and preached Buddhism there for 17 years. He died in modern day Chinese Tibet and the Chinese Government has returned his ashes to his place of birth in Dhaka as a mark of friendship between the two countries. The same can be said of cultural inflow from China. About 600 years ago, China's famous voyager Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty sailed the Indian Ocean several times and visited the Chittagong Port.

Historically, there have also been movements of people, whole tribes who have traveled from different parts of China and settled in parts of South Asia including Bangladesh. Today they form an integral part of the society and add diversity with their ethnic identity.

I was happy to note from a speech of a Chinese Ambassador to one of the South Asian countries (Nepal) that China's foreign policy towards South Asia was to implement the policy of developing friendship with China's South Asian neighbors by living in harmony and partnership with its neighbors, and promote mutual understanding, trust, friendship and cooperation between China and countries concerned. The Chinese Ambassador had quoted a famous Chinese phrase that: "go to the west heaven for scriptures". He said that "west " meant South Asia, explaining that the phrase was derived from the legend of Master Monk Xuanzang in China's Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago, who became a well-known pundit in ancient China after learning Sanskrit scriptures during his visit to Nepal and India. Here I would like to quote our Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) urging Muslims to travel to China for the sake of acquiring knowledge.

In modern day interstate relations, China is strategically important for South Asia. As Asia's only P-5 member in the UN Security Council, China's say and role in global affairs cannot be underestimated. With the end of the cold war and the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union, China has emerged as the only other country that has the potential to balance any uni-polarity in global politics. Like the rest of the world, South Asian countries took a new look at China and formulated their policies for closer and strategic relationships.

I must pay a tribute to the wisdom and sagacity of the leadership of this great country for maintaining China's policy of solidarity with the developing countries. Despite the transformations and shifts in global power politics, we see that China still maintains "Peaceful co-existence" as the main principle in China-South Asia relations. The fundamentals of this principles are (i) mutual equality, (ii) non-interference in each other's internal affairs, (iii) mutual respect to territorial integrity, (iv) cooperation against hegemonic and power politics, and (v) mutual accommodation and benefit. This has instilled a healthy trust and confidence among all the South Asian countries to adopt policies that seek close and strategic partnerships with China.

Dear Friends,

Bangladesh since its inception has forged a relationship of friendship and cooperation with China, The breakthrough came in 1975 with the visionary statesman Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman's decision to establish diplomatic relations with China and making his maiden visit to this country. Since then there has been no looking back. The two countries have engaged bilaterally in intensive cooperation making China one of our most important partners in development. A large portion of our infrastructural development including roads and bridges, power plants and mining and industrial establishments were built with Chinese assistance and technology. There were regular exchanges and people to people contacts al all levels between government leaders and government officials, between political parties and eminent citizens and professionals and students. And over the past two decades, as China liberalized its economy, there has been increasing interactions among the businessmen and private sectors of the two countries.

A climax in our bilateral relations reached in 2005 when the two countries celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Premier Wen Jiabao paid a state visit to Bangladesh in April 2005 and Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia paid her return visit to China within three months in August 2005. As many as Fourteen Agreements on bilateral cooperation were signed during the two visits. This track record speaks for itself the relevance of Bangladesh in China's South Asia policy.

Bangladesh-China cooperation was not limited to just bilateral relations. Bangladesh could find appreciation in China of its problems and concerns as a least developed country. The two countries have closely worked together in the multilateral forums, particularly in the United Nations by keeping the focus on the development issues. The two countries also cooperated closely on the issue of human rights upholding the point that human rights issue cannot be discriminatory or used as a political tool.

Bangladesh respects China's policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. We have been consistent in lending our full support to the "One China" policy and considered Taiwan and Tibet as integral parts of China. Having similarity of views on many of the international issues, Bangladesh and China have important roles to play for peace and development, both globally and regionally.

The strategic importance of Bangladesh in China's South Asia policy is obvious. First, Bangladesh is China's near neighbour, separated by a small stretch of Indian Territory in the North East. Second, as one of the world's largest functioning democracies and a moderate Muslim country, Bangladesh has considerable influence among the Islamic countries. Third, as a pro-active member in the UN having served the UN Security Council twice in 30 years and being a party to almost all UN Human Rights and Disarmament Conventions and also the lead troop contributing country in UN Peace Keeping Operations, Bangladesh's respect in the international community is well placed. Fourth, being a party to 11of the 12 UN anti terrorist conventions, Bangladesh is a major player in the war against global terrorism. Fifth, with a steady GDP growth rate of over 6% and having 40 million people of its total population that represent the middle class consumer, Bangladesh is surely emerging as a vast market for China. Sixth, its pioneering role in the formation of SAARC, BIMSTEC, ACD and its impending membership in the ARF has made Bangladesh critically important for any country which wishes to engage in South and South East Asia.

Distinguished guests,

Bangladesh admires China for its status as one of the world's fastest growing economies. The economic transformation has been so rapid that China is predicted by some to become the world's largest economy by 2050 with a GDP of $44.4 trillion ahead of the US GDP of $35 trillion*. The resultant economic strength of China has created the impulse for a closer relation with South Asia. We are happy to see China's growing interest in forging economic and strategic partnerships in South Asia including Bangladesh. China's current trade volume with all South Asian nations has reached close to $20 billion a year.

As you are aware, Bangladesh has all along attached high priority to constructive engagement with her neighbours to pave the way for harmonious development in the region. Bangladesh has no contentious issues in her relationship with most of the countries of the region and maintains good and friendly relations with all of them. Bangladesh has always been playing a proactive role to foster cooperation among the countries in the neighbourhood based on the belief that prosperity of one critically depends on the prosperity and well being of all others.

The outcome of the landmark 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka last year is a testimony that there is resolve stronger than anytime in the past, to place the development agenda of SAARC on a faster track. There is now a greater focus on regional cooperation in areas like Energy, Communications, People-to-People Contact, Environmental Protection, Counter-Terrorism, to name a few. There is also emphasis on project-specific cooperation in SAARC for which the SAARC Finance Ministers would be approving a broad-based SAARC Development Fund (SDF) in Islamabad next month. To start with, the Fund will aim at addressing poverty eradication and eventually on furthering economic cooperation and development of infrastructure. These are indeed areas where SAARC looks towards its development partners and the observers to get involved much more. Bangladesh has welcomed China's application for Observer status in the SAARC and we take pride that we could facilitate a favorable decision in Dhaka after assuming the chair of SAARC. We look forward to China's participation as Observer at the next SAARC Summit and hope that it will open one more window in China's cooperation with South Asia.

The conclusion of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) marks a first important step in our progression towards a Customs Union and eventually to a South Asian Free Trade Area over the next decades. You would soon witness some real changes on the ground as the SAARC member states start bringing down the tariff and non-tariff barriers beginning 1 July 2006 under SAFTA.

An integrated economy of South Asia holds better prospects and opportunities for China. Bangladesh believes that in the coming years, South Asia and China - working under the SAARC umbrella and also on bilateral plane - can harness the potentials of the region by forging cooperative relations in newer fields. The new framework of cooperation can be of complementarities and not one of competition. Given the endowments in natural and human resources, technological capabilities and levels of economic development of South Asia and China, a broad-based cooperation would be a positive-sum game. Bangladesh looks at such a scenario with optimism. As the incumbent SAARC Chair, we would be most happy to facilitate a broader engagement between SAARC and China. We stand ready to receive any idea that you may have on that point.

In pursuit of economic development, both China and South Asia face some common challenges like meeting the sharply rising energy requirements. All our countries vastly depend on imported fossil fuels. At a time when our economies are severely stressed in ensuring sustained source of energy supply, we might benefit through cooperation amongst us, as many of us are significantly large consumers of hydrocarbons.

Trade and economic collaboration is a major potential area of cooperation. China is already one of the largest global production hubs while India is emerging as another one in respect of some goods and services. The other South Asian countries also possess significant advantage in some goods and services. However, it is essential for all the 'teammates in the economic field' to perform up to a certain level to sustain a mutually beneficial economic engagement. There are four LDCs in South Asia who cannot and should not lag behind if South Asia and China together intend to march ahead.

As South Asia emerges as an attractive production base in the wake of liberalized trading on goods and services, the Chinese investors should seriously consider the opportunities. South Asia alone has more than half-a-billion strong middle class with high consumption propensity. China can thus seriously consider South Asia as its investment destination- both in terms of sunset industries as well as cutting edge industries.

There also exists significant scope to increase cooperation between the two region in areas like human resources development and people - to - people contact. We should focus on increasing the competencies of our people in terms of their skills and knowledge. We should consider a greater collaboration among our educational institutions and sectoral centers of excellences to build on each other's competencies for mutual benefit. This is essential for our collective prosperity in a knowledge-based society in the era of globalization.

Bangladesh remains keen on further energizing the process of cooperation under the Kunming Initiative. We believe that the establishment of Kunming- Chittagong road link via Myanmar will open up new vista of cooperation between Bangladesh and China. Our two governments have already agreed in principle to revive the existing road network, which can be made fully operational after construction and upgradation at certain points. Last December, a group of nine Chinese travellers from Kunming took the first ever trip along this route to revive a portion of the famous `Southern Silk Route'. We believe reopening of a part of the old tri-nation road link between Bangladesh and China via Myanmar will facilitate further trade, business and tourism between Bangladesh and China. Given the economic complementarities of the region, there is immense potential for such cooperation.

Mr. President,
Distinguished guests, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Today, China has embarked upon a new vision in its relationship vis-à-vis South Asia. The present Chinese leadership is trying to build bridges of economic engagement with the countries of South Asia, which is also a potent instrument in resolving any political problem. China has now established long-term and friendly partnerships with all the countries of the region. The new confident China that emerged since the early eighties is successfully projecting it as a responsible member of the international community. Mutual benefit and mutual accommodation, today, define China's south Asian policy. Historically, it is neither the military prowess nor diplomacy but larger people-to-people contacts in the domain of education, culture, trade and commerce that provided the strongest links between China and South Asia. Therefore, a strong and prosperous China will help promote regional peace, stability and development, and will inject dynamics to the friendly cooperation between China and South Asia, particularly Bangladesh.

Let me conclude my presentation by quoting an annalect of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius who when asked to give his view on forging friendships said, "There are three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendship with the upright; friendship with the sincere; and friendship with the man of much observation: these are advantageous. Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship with the insinuatingly soft; and friendship with the glib-tongued: these are injurious." Our perception of Bangladesh-China friendship is on track with the wisdom of Confucius.

I thank you.