US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's
visit to Dhaka unveils tomorrow. Her sojourn
in Dhaka comes on the heels of her Beijing trip along with
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. They talked trade with Chinese premier
Hu Jintao and other top functionaries in Beijing,
a pressing bilateral issue that. This went undeterred in the shadows of
Communist Party's discredited top brass Bo Xin Lai's exit and the embarrassment
of the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng's leaving the US embassy following a
reported deal with Beijing on his safety.
As Beijing
continued with its objection to US meddling in China's “internal affairs,” the
primacy of economic interests got the better of political leveraging. On
balance, it is a clear vindication of live-and-let-live policy, in spite of
geo-political and strategic rivalries focused on threats of Chinese
encirclement in the South China Sea,
Asia-Pacific region including Southeast and South Asia.
The US
is China's
principal contender along with India
there.
Note, however, that Hillary's visit is set in
the backdrop of a flurry of trips to Dhaka by
US dignitaries: US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake (February 15);
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy R. Sherman (April 5); and
Assistant Secretary of Political-Military Affairs Andrew J Shapiro (April 19).
Soft diplomacy blended with a brass tack
approach set the scene for a Bangladesh-US partnership dialogue framework,
according to preliminary information. Assistant Secretary of Political-Military
Affairs Andrew J Shapiro said on April 24 in Washington after his Dhaka trip:
“Bangladesh is working through a military modernisation plan including looking
to partner for affordable defense system, especially to supply its special
operation forces and disaster relief equipment.”
Hillary Clinton's trip to Bangladesh
needs to be placed in a broader international perspective to gauge its true
significance. There are three dimensions to it: First, the US' pivoting to
Asia; second, this is an election year in USA; and third,
US
establishment with its Zionist inclination takes Muslim-majority countries
seriously. Especially, countries with moderation, given to liberal, secular,
democratic values attract its attention. More so when this is becoming a rarity
even in the post-Arab Spring political landscape where Islamists fill in the
void. Bangladesh's
160 million populace is overwhelmingly Muslim, religious but wedded to keeping
political Islam at bay.
America's
strategic pivot towards Asia which President
Obama touts as America
being back, the question is did it actually ever leave? To quote from United States
Pacific Command Facts (USPACOM): “The United States Pacific Command, which
operates throughout the Asia-Pacific, is made up of about 325,000 military and
civilian personnel. Six aircraft carrier strike groups are based permanently in
the Asia-Pacific region. The US Navy makes about 700 port visits each year, and
carries out a number of bilateral and multilateral military training
exercises.”
America maintains formal military alliances
with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia, and has a
significant presence in Singapore (gleaned from an article in Foreign Policy
Analysis titled Southeast Asia's American Embrace by Jessica Brown; CIP,
Australia).
One more excerpt from the Jessica Brown article:
All Southeast Asian states want to take advantage of the benefits of a rising China, yet none
wants it to be in a position to dominate the region strategically. All welcome America's
strategic 'pivot' towards Asia because they
hope it will provide a counterbalance to China's growing weight.
Turning to South Asia,
America
is goaded by experts to develop closer ties with smaller countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal. Three of
these are maritime states, “Given the importance of securing Indian Ocean sea
lanes, through which 50 percent of the world's container traffic and 70 percent
of the world's crude and oil products transit, it is in US interests to promote
maritime security cooperation among South Asian countries and deepen defense
ties with these navies as a from of burden-sharing in the Indian Ocean,”
(Nilanthi Samaranayake, Strategic Studies Analyst at CNA in Asia Pacific
Bulletin, September 22, 2011 issue; East-West Center).
China
for her part seeks to build “string of pearls” in the area including Myanmar. But
the West is withdrawing its sanctions on Yangon
following its embrace of reforms.
Bangladesh's
geo-political importance having been enhanced by the settlement of maritime
disputes with Myanmar
under international arbitration accepted by both sides, its ranking as an
investment destination is placed on an upward curve.
So much for the South-Asian scenario, in an
election year, Hillary Clinton's diplomacy is geared towards playing the
foreign policy card which is Obama administration's strong point against
Republican presidential probable Mitt Romney.
For the last 60-70 years, the USA despite
policing the world and committing invasions and interventions has provided a
climate in which the emerging economies (Brics) as well as Hong Kong,
Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia could come to their present state of
development.
A new balance of power can work to the
advantage of the world, so the spheres of influence of US, China and India are not
necessarily an evil; it may be a value addition to world order.
We in Bangladesh would like to befriend
and not antagonise any power. We don't want to be caught up in entanglements.
Taking the example from politically adversarial nations holding hands in
economic and technological fields, need we ruffle any country's feathers in our
drive for economic advancement?
The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star. E-mail: husain.imam@thedailystar.net
Source: The Daily Star, 04 May 2012
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