On Nov. eleven, 2023, the 14.three-km extended channel of the Matarbari deep-sea port and the to start with unit of the one,two hundred MW Matarbari coal-fired ability plant were being inaugurated in Bangladesh. These twin projects have fantastic significance for the country’s economic and power safety. At the same time, the projects symbolize the depth of the mutually useful partnership involving Bangladesh and Japan, mainly because equally the deep-sea port and the energy plant are becoming constructed and financed by Japan. At existing, the strategic ties in between Dhaka and Tokyo are speedily growing.
Historical Background
Because the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Bangladesh and Japan have solid solid financial, diplomatic, and political ties. Japan identified Bangladesh on Feb. 10, 1972, getting to be the very first OECD member-point out to identify the recently independent state. Because then, Tokyo has emerged as the major source of Official Advancement Aid (ODA) for Dhaka, and it has offered, or committed to present, the latter with far more than $thirty.32 billion in the kind of grants, financial loans and specialized support. The Japanese–Bangladeshi bilateral trade at the moment quantities to more than $four.124 billion, and the balance of payments is in Japan’s favor. In working with Bangladesh, the Japanese have generally targeted on the financial sphere, and primarily refrained from interfering in the inner political procedures in the region. As a consequence, irrespective of the party in electric power, Dhaka has preserved a shut partnership with Tokyo more than the many years, and Japan has managed to cultivate the impression of ‘all-weather friend’ in the region.
At first, Japanese desire in Bangladesh primarily emanated from Japanese research for marketplaces and investments as effectively as Japan’s want to extend its impact in South and Southeast Asia. As a end result of the intensifying Sino–Japanese strategic competition, limiting Chinese affect in Bangladesh grew to become one more critical Japanese goal in the region. So, Tokyo and Beijing are at the moment engaged in a discreet competition with every other in Bangladesh. Therefore, Japan’s stakes in Bangladesh are growing. Meanwhile, Bangladesh is fascinated in sustaining its shut partnership with Japan to further more its socio-financial progress, for which it demands Japanese international direct investment decision (FDI), infrastructure growth guidance, high-tech industrial tools, and other industrial items. Furthermore, Bangladesh demands to retain its strategic autonomy vis-à-vis all wonderful and regional powers, and considering that Japan is just one of those powers, Dhaka values its partnership with Tokyo. Accordingly, Dhaka and Tokyo have expanded the horizons of their partnership around the prior decade.
The Development of Japanese–Bangladeshi Politico-Strategic Ties
Traditionally, Japan’s involvement in Bangladesh has been concentrated in the economic and cultural sectors. Even so, Tokyo is at present in search of to forge robust political and strategic ties with Dhaka via a number of methods.
First, Japan is heavily associated in the socio-economic improvement in Bangladesh. At present, roughly 350 Japanese organizations are working in Bangladesh, with a combined financial commitment of about $380 million. The Japan Global Cooperation Company (JICA) has so much financed the construction of 134 bridges in Bangladesh. Japan has also produced hospitals, schools, teaching institutes, and even retirement properties in the region. At current, Japan is associated in a quantity of key infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, together with the Dhaka Metro Rail Project, the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Terminal growth job, the Chattogram Metropolis Outer Ring Road Job, the Chattogram WASA Karnaphuli H2o Supply Undertaking, the Countrywide Electrical power Transmission Community Development Challenge, and the Organic Gasoline Effectiveness Challenge.
Also, Japan is developing the Matarbari deep-sea port and the Matarbari coal-fired ability plant. Modelled on the Japanese deep-sea ports of Kashima and Niigata, the Matarbari port is the initial deep-sea port in Bangladesh. It would not only reduce the tension on the port of Chattogram but also provide a hub for close by landlocked regions, which includes Northeast India and the Himalayan states of Nepal and Bhutan. At first, China had proposed to make a deep-sea port for Bangladesh at the Sonadia Island, but the job was scrapped soon after dealing with opposition from India, Japan and the United States (US). Alternatively, Japan been given the deal to assemble a deep-sea port at Matarbari, getting a geopolitical and geo-economic accomplishment vis-à-vis China. Therefore, Japan has formulated considerable political and financial stakes in Bangladesh, and has become an crucial component of Bangladesh’s economic and power safety.
Second, Dhaka and Tokyo cast a ‘comprehensive partnership’ on 26 May 2014. Beneath this endeavor, the two states initiated a bilateral dialogue at the International Secretary amount, accelerated the development of the Bangladesh Peacebuilding Centre in Dhaka with Japanese help, introduced the launch of the Joint Bangladesh–Japan Public–Private Economic Dialogue, and dedicated by themselves to the further more enlargement of Japanese–Bangladeshi political, economic, and cultural ties. On 26 April 2023, the two countries upgraded their ties to the degree of ‘strategic partnership’. Amid other issues, Dhaka made the decision to open a Defense Wing in the Bangladeshi Embassy in Tokyo underneath this agreement, and in its transform, Tokyo decided to open up a Countrywide Protection Wing in the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka. Moreover, Bangladesh mentioned its guidance for a free of charge, open, tranquil, and protected Indo-Pacific, while Japan expressed its guidance for the secure, voluntary, and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya refugees.
Final but not the the very least, for the to start with time in the historical past of Japanese–Bangladeshi ties, Japan has made a decision to present Bangladesh with Formal Protection Support (OSA), and it is poised to source Bangladesh with 4 patrol boats well worth $3.82 million less than this framework. Bangladesh is a single of the pretty several international locations which has been picked for getting Japanese OSA, and it demonstrates Bangladesh’s escalating relevance to Japan. In addition, the Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces are building bilateral security cooperation by arranging for high-stage visits, device-to-device exchanges, education applications and goodwill routines. Additionally, vessels of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) have recently started producing frequent port calls at Chattogram, the principal seaport of Bangladesh.
Consequently, Japan is steadily increasing its politico-strategic footprints in Bangladesh through increasing its stakes in the latter’s standard as nicely as non-standard security sectors.
Strategic Implications
The developing growth of the Japanese–Bangladeshi ties signify the raising Japanese political, economic, and strategic stakes in Bangladesh. Owing to the intensification of the geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific area and the Sino–Japanese strategic rivalry, Japan is trying to find to increase its affect in Bangladesh and the broader Bay of Bengal area by enterprise strategically important assignments these kinds of as the Matarbari deep-sea port, raising navy-political ties with Dhaka and extending military support to the country. Accordingly, it has emerged as an important strategic lover for Dhaka.
In the meantime, Bangladesh is focused on the preservation of its strategic autonomy, the acceleration of its socio-financial growth and the modernization of its armed forces. Japan’s developing desire in Bangladesh has the probable to assist the latter in recognizing its nationwide aims. However, the growth of the Japanese–Bangladeshi politico-strategic ties can have likely negative geopolitical repercussions for Bangladesh as perfectly, significantly vis-à-vis China. That’s why, Dhaka must meticulously take care of its ties with Tokyo to defend itself from any destructive fallouts when maximizing its politico-economic gains from the partnership.
[Photo by Prime Minister’s Office, Japan]
Md. Himel Rahman is a write-up-graduate student of Stability Research at the Department of Intercontinental Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a freelance analyst on international and strategic affairs. His articles or blog posts have been posted in a quantity of retailers, which include the South Asian Voices, the Geopolitics, the Eurasia Assessment, the Each day Star and the Day by day Observer. The sights and viewpoints expressed in this article are these of the creator.
