BNP’s desperate outreach to China for the Teesta project reeks of political opportunism rather than strategic vision. With India unlikely to endorse such a move and Trump-era Washington actively countering Chinese influence, BNP's approach appears less like diplomacy and more like a gamble. The party, long struggling for relevance, seems eager to align with Beijing simply because the current government under Dr. Yunus and the students is not pro-India. This desperation extends beyond BNP, as both Jamaat and the newly formed National Citizens Party (NCP) may made similar overtures to China, hoping to exploit the shifting political landscape.
However,, the irony is striking—while pro-uprising factions of July 2024 rush to court Beijing, Trump openly claimed that USAID siphoned $29 million from American taxpayers for socio-political engineering in Bangladesh. If true, this means American money is inadvertently fueling closer Bangladesh-China ties, a scenario that defies geopolitical logic. It also exposes a deeper paradox: local political elements seeking Beijing’s backing while indirectly benefiting from American funds. Whether China will actually invest in the Teesta project remains uncertain, but what is clear is that Bangladesh’s political forces are in a frantic bid to reposition themselves—often at the cost of consistency, credibility, and geopolitical prudence.
The writer is Editor of Geopolits.com
