Silk Road could revive vital link between East and West

"The revival of the Economic Belt and the Maritime Road will further deepen political and cultural ties between China and Bangladesh," Titumir said.

China is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh but is highly tilted in favor of China, said Titumir who also teaches Development Studies in Dhaka University.

He said while China has substantial surplus with all of its South Asian trading partners, Beijing can offset this imbalance by investing more in these countries, particularly in infrastructure development in order to promote long-term strategic and stable environment in the region.

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"Expanding the financing channels for both country-specific and sub-regional cooperation projects through vehicles such as the envisaged Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank would provide a financial platform for connectivity between China and Bangladesh, inter-connectivity among SAARC members and with countries in the ASEAN region," Titumir said.

He said that China can demonstrate its much-vaunted notion of "peaceful rise" through confidence building measures through its good neighbor principle which is based on mutual trust and respect of each country's social, economic and political structures.

"Historically, a strong China has not been associated with aggression or expansionism and has never voted in favor of cessation or annexation by any country at the United Nations," Titumir said.

The idea of an Economic Belt and the Maritime Road could put Bangladesh, with the Bay of Bengal in the South, as a trade hub since it is geographically situated in-between the two largest markets of the world, India and China, and in the close maritime proximity with the two land-locked South Asian nations, Nepal and Bhutan, and the Northeastern states of India, according to Titumir.

Titumir said that at present Bangladesh has a number of projects in mind that include the highway project to connect Chittagong and Kunming through Myanmar. If fully operational, the project could give Bangladesh an entry into the Mekong sub-region, besides China, accelerating trade and facilitating people-to-people contacts, he said.

Khatun said that the Bangladeshi government should now conduct a feasibility study for its role in the proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

"Initial feasibility studies should be conducted now and the proper government agency should come up with a final decision," Khatun said.

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