China's interference in Bangladesh's foreign policy exhibits its 'frustration': expert

China warned Dhaka against joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) - a security alliance between India, the US, Japan and Australia. Former ambassador Jitendra Tripathi, in a conversation with ETV Bharat correspondent Chandrakala Choudhury, marked the Chinese step as its 'anger and frustration' against the Security Dialogue.

New Delhi:Reacting to China's warning to Bangladesh against joining the ‘Quad’-- a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) of four countries, Japan, the US, Australia and India--, former ambassador Jitendra Tripathi said, “China is worried that many more countries might join the group and that’s the reason it is trying to arm-twist smaller countries like Bangladesh by warning them. China fears the fact that once more countries start joining the ‘Quad’ then probably, it will be encircled by many countries."

This comes after China’s envoy in Dhaka Li Jiming on Monday has warned Bangladesh against joining the US-led Quad alliance, saying that Dhaka’s involvement in Quad would result in damage to bilateral relations.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen reacted strongly to the statement, saying that such a remark from the ambassador is very 'unfortunate and aggressive'.

The Foreign Minister reiterated that Bangladesh is an independent and sovereign state and it can determine its foreign policy.

He said, “China is discussing the issue in advance over the US-led four-nation security alliance. No decision has yet been made about the Quad, and Bangladesh will decide on it as an independent, sovereign country.”

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Tripathi said, “China is behaving like a wounded animal. Very recently, although the 16th EU-India summit did not mention China directly, it was intended to China as the leaders discussed free, open Indo-Pacific. Immediately after that, China’s mouthpiece global times said that at the expense of China, if the EU is trying to put India on trade, it will backfire and India’s vaccine diplomacy has fallen flat. This shows the frustration of Chinese leadership and they were surprised to see that every country in the world came for the rescue of India for the fight against China."

“Therefore, China has again miscalculated as it thought that since India is in trouble and that the nation's vaccine diplomacy will not go any far, therefore, China started doubling its vaccine production. But now Chinese leadership is worried about all the countries coming together and United States waiving patent protection on the COVID vaccine."

China fears that Indian vaccine production will again shoot up as China’s vaccine diplomacy will suffer from that. Overall, China is frustrated”, Tripathi pointed out.

When asked if the Chinese rocket crashing the Indian Ocean is another tactical ploy by China, Tripathi said that this is nothing but one of the flop shows of China.

China has been vehemently opposing the very idea of ‘Quad’ and the country’s foreign ministry has time and again reiterated that exchanges and cooperation between countries will help expand better understanding and trust, instead of harming the interest of any third countries.

China views the Quad which includes India, Japan, the US and Australia as a strong alliance against the country and a threat to itself.

Also on Tuesday, the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that America has taken note of the Chinese ambassador warning Bangladesh against joining the Quad.

Addressing a daily news briefing, Spokesperson Price said, “We have taken note of that statement from the PRC ambassador to Bangladesh. What we would say is that we respect Bangladesh’s sovereignty, and we respect Bangladesh’s right to make foreign policy decisions for itself”.

The United States reiterated that it has an incredibly strong relationship with Bangladesh. “We work closely with our partners there on a range of issues, from economic growth to climate change to humanitarian issues”, Price said.

And when it comes to the Quad, we’ve said this before, but the Quad, it’s an informal, essential, multilateral mechanism that right now conveys – convenes like-minded democracies – the United States, India, Australia, and Japan – to coordinate in the Indo-Pacific, and fundamentally, to push forward our goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, Price stated.

Initiated in 2007, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Quad for short, is an informal grouping of the US, India, Australia and Japan.

The first summit of the Quad leaders had been hosted by Biden-led US administration, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterparts from Australia, the US and Japan.

During the meeting, the leaders vowed to work together closely for advancing their shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.