Dhaka: Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hossain today dismissed the notion of any emerging alliance among Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan, stating that a recent meeting between the three countries was not of political nature but rather an informal official-level discussion. “We are not forming any alliance,” he told reporters at the foreign ministry when asked about the trilateral meeting in China’s Kunming on June 19. Hossain emphasized, “It was a meeting at the official level, not at the political level,” where there was “no element of formation of any alliance.”
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the foreign ministry had earlier issued a statement clarifying that representatives from Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan held an “informal trilateral meeting” on the sidelines of the 9th China-South Asia Exposition and the 6th China-South Asia Cooperation Forum in Kunming. Former acting Foreign Secretary Md Ruhul Alam Siddique represented Dhaka in the meeting with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong and Pakistani Additional Foreign Secretary Imran Ahmed Siddiqui.
China and Pakistan released separate statements regarding the meeting. Beijing stated that the three countries engaged in “extensive discussions on trilateral cooperation” and agreed to move forward based on “good-neighborliness, mutual trust, equality, openness, inclusiveness, and shared development.” Islamabad described the gathering as the “inaugural meeting of the Bangladesh-China-Pakistan trilateral mechanism.”
When asked whether Dhaka rejected such characterizations, Hossain stated there was “no need to deny anything” but stressed that it was “not anything big and not something structured.” He noted that the discussions mainly focused on connectivity and related areas, adding, “If there is any further progress, you will know that (but) there is not much scope to speculate.”
Hossain further stated that Dhaka did not have reservations about joining such meetings with other countries, citing a hypothetical example involving India. “If India wants to have such a meeting among Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, Dhaka will remain interested to ‘do’ the meeting next day,” he said, noting that the Dhaka-New Delhi relationship is currently going through a phase of “readjustment.”
“The relationship with India is now at a stage of ‘readjustment’ and there is no lack of goodwill from Dhaka’s side to that end,” Hossain explained. He further acknowledged, “The level of deep relationship between India and the previous government had and the kind of relationship India had established, the current relationship with us is not like that one.”
During the Kunming meeting, the three sides discussed prospects for trilateral cooperation in key sectors such as infrastructure, connectivity, trade, investment, healthcare, agriculture, maritime affairs, ICT, disaster preparedness, and climate change. According to Dhaka, the delegations agreed to pursue collaboration based on openness, inclusivity, good neighbourliness, and a win-win approach.