China is reported to be lending $5 billion to Bangladesh

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is visiting China for the first time in five years and is reportedly set to sign 20 cooperation agreements with Beijing, including a Chinese loan totaling US $5 billion .

According to the scholars interviewed, Bangladesh is one of the most profitable countries from China's Belt and Road Initiative, which can be described as "making a lot of money from silence." Bangladesh is strategically located, but the huge loans reported in the media are mostly unrealistic as things stand.

Hasina arrived in Beijing late Monday for a three-day official visit to China. This is her first visit to China since starting her new term in January. She had previously visited India in late June.

Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met with Hasina in Beijing on Tuesday, saying the two countries have set an example of friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries, CCTV News reported. China is willing to deepen practical cooperation with Bangladesh in various fields and push China-Bangladesh strategic cooperative partnership to a new level.

 She will also attend the China-Bangladesh business Trade and Investment Conference.

Lin Minwang, deputy director of the Center for South Asian Studies at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that the Hasina government takes India's strategic interests into account in diplomacy. However, from the overall interests of Bangladesh, Hasina generally maintains a balanced diplomacy between China and India, especially hoping to inherit China's development dividend in economic development.

China and Bangladesh signed loan agreements worth more than $24 billion in 2016, the largest foreign credit line for Bangladesh. China is involved in a number of infrastructure investments in Bangladesh, including the Padma Bridge, Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway and power plants. These projects are critical to Bangladesh's economic growth and connectivity.

According to Bloomberg, Bangladesh's foreign ministry said that Bangladesh and China will sign 20 cooperation agreements and launch new projects on Wednesday. The agreements include finance and banking, trade and investment, the digital economy, infrastructure development, and disaster management and bridge-building assistance.

Bangladesh is in talks with China for a loan of about $5 billion to boost the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves, central Bank Governor Khalid Talukdeh told Bloomberg News Tuesday. The money will be denominated in yuan, giving exporters access to financing to pay for much-needed imports of raw materials from China.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have continued to fall since the coronavirus pandemic due to a sharp drop in clothing exports and soaring international commodity prices. China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner.

Bangladesh's largest-circulation daily Dawn newspaper reported Sunday that China is interested in providing the equivalent of about $5 billion in local currency loans, while Bangladesh is seeking $7 billion.

Lin Minwang believes that Hasina's visit to China will give priority to economic and trade issues; But when it comes to issues of global and regional importance, Hasina's government mostly takes into account the interests and concerns of all parties and chooses to be vague.