The most significant change to the permanent membership of the UN Security Council happened while the Bangladesh Liberation War was taking place in 1971. On October 25, 1971, the Republic of China (ROC) was expelled from the UN and replaced by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
This dramatic change occurred as the United States and the PRC began to engage at the highest levels for the first time since the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. US national security adviser Henry Kissinger played a crucial role in facilitating the Sino-American rapprochement.
In Bangladesh, Henry Kissinger is often remembered for the “basket case” analogy of development economics. Yet, Kissinger’s legacy on modern Bangladesh is bigger than we imagine. It was his opening to China -- during the Liberation War -- which later gave impetus to Sino-Bangladesh relations. China is today one of Bangladesh’s major economic and strategic partners.
China’s permanent membership
At the time of the UN’s founding in 1945, the ROC was given a seat at the table because China was part of the victorious Allied Nations that defeated the Axis powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy. The ROC was later overthrown during the Chinese Civil War and retreated to the island of Taiwan in 1949.
Mainland China came under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the PRC was denied UN membership between 1949 and 1971. The denial of UN membership to the mainland-based PRC was a matter of concern during the 1950s, including for India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The ROC continued to hold China’s seat on the UN Security Council between 1949 and 1971. The ROC has always laid claim to all of mainland China. During the 1960s, the PRC was engulfed in the devastating Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong. Communist China was an isolated and pariah state. Taiwan effectively sat on the UN Security Council as the representative of China.
This changed in 1971, just as Bangladesh’s freedom struggle got underway.
A diplomatic masterstroke
The Nixon White House decided to use General Yahya Khan as a conduit to reach out to the Chinese leadership. In April 1971, an American table tennis team’s landmark visit to China was dubbed “ping pong diplomacy.” In July 1971, Henry Kissinger visited Pakistan. Those who remember his trip recount that he went missing towards the end of his trip. It later emerged that he went on a historic secret visit to China.
This visit by Kissinger is considered a diplomatic masterstroke in the annals of history. Communist China and the Soviet Union were at odds due to the Sino-Soviet split. America, therefore, reached out to China to steer Peking away from the Soviet axis. This had enduring ramifications for global history.
By the late 1970s, China abandoned Marxist economics in favour of limited market economics, trade, and foreign investment under Deng Xiaoping. Deng’s reforms started economic growth which saw China eventually emerge as the world’s second largest economy.
Kissinger’s groundwork paved the way for Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in February 1972 to meet with Mao Zedong. This visit gave rise to the metaphor Nixon goes to China which perhaps means the impossible is possible. The US and the PRC formally established diplomatic relations in 1979 under the Carter administration.
A handful of officials in West Pakistan were facilitating Sino-American contacts in 1971 in the most discreet manner possible. Ironically, Pakistan’s ambassador in Peking at the time was Ambassador Khawaja Kaiser, who was a native of East Pakistan.
The ambassador was told by one of China’s most influential statesmen, Zhou Enlai, to stay put at home during the crucial months of the Liberation War. This was even recounted by Ambassador Kaiser to my father, who served as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign relations in independent Bangladesh in the 1980s.
Modern China’s integration and “socialization” into the international community took place during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980, Dr Kamal Hossain was roped in by the United Nations to advise China on how to open up its oil and gas industry.
Sino-Bangladesh normalization
The PRC stood with Pakistan during the Liberation War. In B Z Khasru’s book on the geopolitics of the Liberation War, it is stated that the Chinese privately aired concerns to the Pakistanis but to no avail. After gaining a seat on the UN Security Council in 1971, the PRC used its first veto to oppose Bangladesh’s UN membership. Bangladesh finally joined the United Nations in 1974.
Sino-Bangladesh normalization started in 1975 and saw the opening of embassies in 1976. Sino-Bangladesh normalization took place in the context of China normalizing ties with several countries. In addition to Bangladesh, the 1970s saw China establishing diplomatic relations with Britain, Japan, Turkey, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Iran, Portugal, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Mexico, Tunisia, Jordan, and Canada among others.
Perhaps, the most coincidental aspect of the Sino-Bangladesh relationship is the correlation between China’s economic opening under Deng Xiaoping and Bangladesh’s own shift to focus on private sector expansion, export-oriented development, and foreign direct investment. Successive governments in China and Bangladesh have since maintained robust relations.
China is Bangladesh’s largest import source for capital goods, consumer goods, and military equipment. 60% of Bangladesh’s Covid-19 vaccines were supplied from China. For decades, China has provided substantial finance for infrastructure development while competitive Chinese companies are often at the forefront of public tenders in Bangladesh.
However, China and Bangladesh have starkly different political systems. The two countries often have differing positions on the international stage.
While China is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) along with India, Russia, and Pakistan, Bangladesh has steered clear of SCO membership. In UNGA Resolution 62/167, Bangladesh voted to condemn the human rights situation in North Korea while China voted in favour of North Korea against the resolution. In UNGA Resolution 74/246, Bangladesh voted to condemn the government of Myanmar for human rights violations against the Rohingya while China voted in favour of the government of Myanmar against the resolution.
Nevertheless, the strategic aspect of the relationship is governed by realpolitik.
Geographically, China is located 100 km from the northern tip of Bangladesh. China is expanding its global military footprint, with overseas bases in Djibouti and the South China Sea. A recent proposed treaty between China and the Solomon Islands allows Beijing to deploy troops at the request of the Solomon Islands.
In the past, Henry Kissinger was motivated by realpolitik in his engagement with China. Kissinger is at times compared with the 19th century Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck who transformed Germany into an anchor of stability. Kissinger’s realpolitik undoubtedly influenced Bangladesh’s decision makers in embracing China as a strategic partner following Sino-Bangladesh normalization.
Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field.
