Bangladesh’s relations with China have entered a new phase after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first official visit to Beijing after taking office in February 2026. During three days, Rahman held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and top legislative leaders, culminating in a 14-point joint statement that both sides said elevated their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
At the talks, Xi Jinping reaffirmed Beijing’s pledge to side with Dhaka irrespective of changes in the global landscape. “China will remain Bangladesh’s trustworthy good friend, good neighbour and good partner.
Trade Imbalance Dominates Discussions
Rahman used the visit to press Beijing on a long-standing concern: the widening trade gap between the two nations. He called for China to buy more Bangladeshi products, diversify the types of goods exported and support the country’s major infrastructure projects.
- In recent years, China’s financial footprint in Bangladesh has grown at a fast rate.
- Bangladesh’s outstanding debt to China: $6.2b
- An additional loan from the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: $2.3 billion
- Similar lending from India: only $1.6bn
Total Chinese corporate investment in Bangladesh: $7.7 billion, with about half of that focused in the energy sector
It is these figures that have led analysts to increasingly describe Bangladesh’s economic dependence on China as structural, rather than incidental, embedded in infrastructure financing, energy projects and industrial supply chains rather than tied to any one government.
The Question of the Economic Corridor
One of the main topics of the visit was the proposed China-Myanmar-Bangladesh Economic Corridor, which Beijing hopes to revive under its Belt and Road Initiative. China also reaffirmed interest in the modernisation of Chattogram and Mongla ports, two facilities critical to Bangladesh’s maritime trade capacity and, by extension, to China’s regional connectivity ambitions.
Beijing also pledged support for the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, a project Dhaka has been seeking for years and is particularly important given the existing regional sensitivities over river sharing with India.
Between Beijing and New Delhi
Rahman’s visit has a significance that goes far beyond bilateral trade. Bangladesh has traditionally tried to balance ties between China and India, but the current political transition following the February 2026 election has offered Beijing an opportunity to expand its footprint. However, Chinese diplomats have reportedly reached out not only to the governing establishment but also to opposition figures, suggesting an interest in building influence in Dhaka regardless of the outcome of future elections.
This growing closeness has strategic implications for New Delhi. China’s interest in Bangladeshi ports, its role in river management projects and its growing defence supply relationship (including recent tank deliveries) all sit close to India’s eastern flank and the sensitive Siliguri Corridor region. Bangladesh, for its part, reaffirmed its position on the one-China policy and expressed support for China’s stance on Taiwan, a diplomatic signal that further underscores the depth of the realignment.
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What This Means Moving Forward
Bangladesh’s calculus is about more than picking sides. Dhaka continues to describe its foreign policy as one of balancing multiple partners, and it retains genuine leverage given China’s own interest in maintaining regional relevance through Bangladesh. But with increasing debt obligations and growing infrastructure dependencies, the space for Dhaka to re-negotiate terms without economic disruption is getting narrower.
New Delhi, Colombo and beyond will be closely watching the trajectory of Bangladesh-China relations for the wider South Asian region, testing how smaller South Asian economies navigate great-power competition between Beijing and India in the years ahead.
Summary: Bangladesh and China have agreed to elevate ties to a new strategic level after PM Tarique Rahman’s Beijing visit, deepening trade, connectivity and BRI cooperation while reshaping South Asia’s regional balance.
