What Bangladesh hopes to gain from milestone visit by China’s Xi Jinping

Forty-five years ago, China was backing Pakistan in the bloody crackdown on its restive Bengali populace. Up to three million lives are estimated to have been lost by the time Bangladesh was born as an independent nation after India trounced Pakistan in a war in 1971.

Bangladesh has since forgiven China – now its biggest supplier of military hardware – and is rapidly strengthening ties with China, as will be on full display when President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) touches down in capital Dhaka on Friday.

The Xi visit – described by Chinese media as a “milestone” – will be the first by any Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in the three decades since President Li Xiannian’s visit in March 1986.

Not that Bangladesh has forsaken India, its traditional ally and the dominant power in South Asia, which has been warily watching China’s rising clout in a region once considered its exclusive sphere of influence.

Bangladesh’s unequivocal support after a terror strike on an Indian army base last month set the stage for Pakistan’s diplomatic isolation in South Asia, leading to a boycott of November’s South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit in Islamabad.