As Bangladesh and the United States celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations, the two countries have a chance to reset their relationship. Both countries were born out of revolutionary wars of independence. My favourite American movie is The Patriot because it resonates with the Bangladeshi experience of 1971. While not identical, the resonance is strikingly similar.
The Boston Tea Party can be compared with the economic injustice faced by East Pakistan, particularly the deprivation of foreign exchange earnings. The 13 colonies detested the imposition of taxes by a monarch from across the Atlantic in the same vein as East Pakistan detested taxes imposed by bureaucrats and generals who lived 1,000 km away across the subcontinent.
The French entry into the American revolutionary war can be compared with the Indian intervention in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States while Bhutan was the first country to recognize Bangladesh. Both Morocco and Bhutan are kingdoms whereas the US and Bangladesh are republics.
Over the course of the second half of the 20th century, America has increased its engagement with Bangladesh. Its presence in the region dates back to the 18th century. With this solemn view of history, it is necessary to recognize the facts and geopolitical realities which underpin US-Bangladesh ties today.
What would it take to reset the relationship? We cannot just talk about values for the sake of talking. We need to believe in what we are doing. Let’s take a long hard look at where things stand.
Historical background
Relations between the subcontinent and the United States can be traced to 1792 when President George Washington nominated Benjamin Joy as the first American consul to the Bengal Presidency. For a while, the British East India Company refused to recognize the consulate but later accepted its presence. In the 1860s, Chittagong was one of seven ports placed under the jurisdiction of the American consulate in Fort William, along with Aden in Yemen and Rangoon in Burma.
An American consulate was established in Dhaka in 1949 after the partition of British India. Two of Pakistan’s three Bengali premiers -- Mohammad Ali of Bogra and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy -- were warmly hosted in the White House during the 1950s. East Pakistan became a component of the now extinct Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
During the 1960s, Dhaka became the federation’s legislative capital and an American architect was assigned to work with his Bengali student in designing a huge legislative complex in the city. This complex later became home to the Bangladeshi parliament and the prime minister’s residence.
A strategic and development partnership clearly began to evolve before the Liberation War in 1971. The modern bilateral relationship was officially established on April 4, 1972. Since then, the US has emerged as one of Bangladesh’s major trade, development, and security partners.
Political relations
It was supposed to be a relationship between the world’s oldest democracy and one of the world’s youngest and most densely-populated democracies. But it is not, as many would argue in Bangladesh.
Between 1974 and 2000, most Bangladeshi leaders had bilateral meetings with US Presidents, including the country’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; Presidents Ziaur Rahman and H M Ershad; and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. While business and people-to-people relations are robust, the political relationship has been stagnant at the highest levels of government for years.
The US and Bangladesh have not exchanged bilateral visits at the level of heads of states and governments since 2000. The last time a Bangladeshi leader visited the White House was during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s trip to Washington DC during the Clinton administration.
Both the Bangladeshi and American constitutions begin with “We the people.” We share many of the same political and legal values on paper, including free and fair elections, the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, and civil liberties. The United States has a bill of rights while Bangladesh’s constitution has a list of fundamental rights inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But this is all on paper.
There are points of both convergence and divergence. But if countries in the former Iron Curtain like Poland and Mongolia can transform their ties with the US, Bangladesh and the US can also overcome the legacy of the Cold War and reset their relationship.
Economic ties
On the trade front, the US is Bangladesh’s largest export destination. The two countries signed a bilateral investment treaty in 1986 and the US is the largest source of FDI (foreign direct investment) for Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi foreign ministry has reportedly asked for a revision of the bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Given the precedent of the watered down USMCA which replaced NAFTA, Bangladesh is better off sticking to the current BIT.
Why do we have to revise the BIT when it is already a reasonably successful agreement? Bangladesh should concentrate on inking BITs with countries it never signed a BIT with. If Bangladeshi companies invest in Ethiopia and South Sudan, then why is the government not signing BITs with these countries?
Defense cooperation
The US and Bangladesh cooperate on a wide range of security issues, including intelligence sharing, training, institution building, sales of military hardware, counter-terrorism, maritime security, border security, peacekeeping, and disaster management. Nevertheless, Bangladesh lacks an enhanced defense partnership with the US which would allow Dhaka to replace outdated military equipment.
A pro-active and entrepreneurial Bangladesh on the global stage can complement US interests. Bangladesh needs to diversify its sources of military hardware while recognizing that modernizing the military takes decades and cannot be done overnight. Currently, Bangladesh relies on China for 80% of its military hardware.
India has reduced its reliance on Russian weapons to an estimated 60% in 2022. A recent Politico article by a fellow at the Stimson Centre tells us that “the reality is that India will likely remain reliant on the Russian weapons it already possesses or committed to for decades to come.”
Similarly, Bangladesh is likely to depend on China for military hardware in the foreseeable future. However, a lot of this Chinese hardware like the Chengdu F7 aircraft is severely outdated.
Bangladesh needs to modernize and diversify. Consider the example of Morocco. The North African country is a major non-NATO ally of the US. The Moroccan air defense system includes a mixture of American, French, Israeli, and Chinese surface-to-air missiles. The Moroccans possess the HQ-9 (FD-2000B), a Chinese missile with a range exceeding 100 km. In contrast, Bangladesh possesses the Chinese HQ-7 (FM-90) which has a range of only 15 km.
The fuss caused by a Nikkei report over Bangladesh’s short range missiles is laughable given the extremely short range of these missiles. Ultimately, Bangladesh needs to be more self-sufficient. Dhaka needs help to develop its domestic defense industry in both the public and private sectors. For this to happen, Bangladesh’s options can be similar to the options touted for the US and India in terms of transfer of technology and integration of cross-border defense industries.
Indo-Pacific
The growing importance of the Indo-Pacific is seen in the renaming of the US Pacific Command into the Indo-Pacific Command. The Pacific Command has been responsible for maintaining relations with the Bangladesh Armed Forces for decades.
On Indo-Pacific strategy, the new US ambassador to Bangladesh Peter D Haas told a conference of the Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies that the Biden administration seeks a free, open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific. In another significant statement, he stated that, “one of the key tenets of the strategy is that every country should be able to choose its own path, free from pressure or coercion.”
He went to say that, “in sum, the Indo-Pacific Strategy is a positive, shared vision for creating a region where all nations can thrive -- Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the United States, and each and every other country in the region.” The US has donated 180 million Covid-19 vaccines across the Indo-Pacific, of which Bangladesh has received 61 million doses. Bangladesh is the largest recipient of Covid-19 vaccines under the American vaccine aid program.
As many countries like India, France, Japan, and Australia articulate their own Indo-Pacific strategies, Bangladesh should play its own strengths and articulate its own vision for the Indo-Pacific.
Bangladesh is the eastern pole of the Indo-European language family because its official language Bangla is the largest eastern branch of the Indo-European languages. Bangladesh obviously has a natural role to play in the Indo-Pacific. Bangladesh has a vital interest in ensuring a rules-based order in the Bay of Bengal. A key challenge to the rules-based order in the Bay of Bengal has been the Rohingya genocide.
Bangladesh’s goal of a safe, voluntary, and dignified return for Rohingya refugees requires the support of international partners like the United States. While many are saying the Rohingya will never return, the international community should appreciate the moral obligation of Myanmar to reverse the laws that stripped away the citizenship of the Rohingya.
Ultimately, the onus falls on the leadership of both nations to rise to the occasion if we want to reset US-Bangladesh ties. This is particularly true for Bangladeshi leadership.
Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field.
