In 1971, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was emerging out of isolation. It joined the United Nations on October 25, 1971 after the UN General Assembly voted to replace the Republic of China (Taiwan) with the PRC government.
Communist China supported Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. In a letter to Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan on April 13, 1971, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai supported the crumbling unity of East and West Pakistan. Chinese support for Pakistan coincided during the historic Sino-American rapprochement, and was facilitated by Yahya Khan. Ironically, the Pakistani ambassador in China in 1971 was Khawaja M Kaiser from East Pakistan.
Some analysts have pointed out that Chinese support for Pakistan in 1971 was mere rhetoric. China did not militarily intervene on the Sino-Indian border during the 1971 war, despite Pakistani expectations that it would. Pakistan’s military junta was led to believe that Chinese help would be forthcoming, but that help never arrived. Pakistan surrendered to Bangladesh and India on December 16, 1971.
It is important to remember the diplomatic and historical context of China in 1971. After the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, the US sensed an opportunity to woo China away from the Soviet Union. By 1971, the Nixon administration was relying on Yahya Khan as their secret intermediary. In July 1971, Nixon’s national security adviser Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing during an official visit to Pakistan. This secret trip broke the ice and paved the way for Nixon’s visit to China in 1972.
After joining the UN Security Council, the new PRC delegation opposed a Polish proposal to invite the Mujibnagar Government to speak at the council in 1971. Despite this hostility, the government of newly liberated Bangladesh extended all due courtesy to Chinese diplomats stationed in Dhaka. The Chinese government decided to shut down its consulate on January 24, 1972. The Bangladeshi government facilitated the safe exit of Chinese diplomatic personnel. In May, Khawaja M Kaiser returned to Dhaka and reported that premier Zhou Enlai wanted relations to gradually develop between China and Bangladesh.
On August 25, 1972, the PRC wielded its veto on the UN Security Council for the first time by actively opposing the application of Bangladesh for UN membership. During the Security Council meeting, 11 out of 15 countries voted in favour of Bangladesh’s immediate membership in the UN, including the US, UK and Soviet Union among others. Three countries abstained. China was the only permanent member which opposed.
On June 10, 1974, a unanimous resolution supported Bangladesh’s UN membership. After the vote, the Chinese ambassador walked forward to Foreign Minister Dr Kamal Hossain to offer his congratulations, with the words “Bangladesh is a strong country, your strength is the strength of your 75 million people.”
This was followed by the first bilateral meeting between Bangladesh and China at the Chinese mission in New York. Dr Kamal Hossain met the Chinese foreign minister Qiao Guanhua for nearly an hour. Dr Hossain recounted the necessity of the liberation struggle in 1971. Qiao Guanhua said he was aware of the “traditional friendship” between the two peoples, including visits by Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu to China in the 1950s. Dr Hossain referred to the August Agreement of 1973 and the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, as evidence of Bangladesh’s genuine desire to restore normalcy in South Asia. The Chinese foreign minister noted that the contemporary situation would change, alluding to eventual diplomatic recognition.
The Chinese side invited the Bangladesh delegation to their national day reception on October 1. Dr Hossain flew to New York for the evening reception after attending morning talks at the White House between US President Gerald Ford and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Upon Dr Hossain’s arrival, the Chinese foreign minister greeted him and struck an apologetic note. Qiao Guanhua said that Bangladesh was taking its rightful place in the world; and despite its early opposition, China was looking forward to normalization.
Trade talks were soon held in Canton. Khawaja M Kaiser, who was serving as Bangladesh’s ambassador in Burma, was entrusted to maintain contacts with the Chinese. Kaiser visited China as a Bangladeshi envoy to discuss normalization.
Diplomatic relations were finally established in January 1976. Bangladesh was one of several countries which established diplomatic ties with China in the 1970s, along with Britain, Japan, Turkey, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Iran, Portugal, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Jordan and Canada.
Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field. This article first appeared in the author’s Substack.