Warning on China’s BRl does not reflect Bangladesh Finance Min’s actual position, clarifies Ministry

Dhaka [Bangladesh], August 24 (ANI): The Bangladesh Finance Ministry has issued a clarification on recent remarks made by the country’s finance minister Mustafa Kamal on China’s risk-prone investment projects.
In a rejoinder issued by the Bangladesh Finance Ministry, spokesperson Gazi Towhidul Islam said that Kamal’s remarks on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) do not reflect his actual position.
Earlier, the Bangladesh finance minister had warned the developing countries that they “must think twice” about taking more loans through BRI as global inflation and slowing growth added to the strains on indebted emerging markets.
In an interview with Financial Times, Kamal also said China needed to be “more rigorous in evaluating its loans amid concerns that poor lending decisions risked pushing countries into debt distress.”
After the interview, the Finance Ministry Spokesperson Islam wrote a rejoinder stating that the Finance Minister in its interview made it clear that any project in any country could be financed if it is proven financially viable.
He stressed that Bangladesh would never take on finance from any authority if it were not feasible. The operative part of the rejoinder states that the Minister was “in no way warning about Chinese loans”.
According to Bangladesh Live News, the very fact that Bangladesh had to clarify its position during the interview shows that Dhaka did not want China or for that matter any other country, to misread the diplomatic signals.
Even on China-Taiwan tension, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had said that it is closely following the situation and said, “Bangladesh reiterates her firm adherence to the One China policy and urges the parties concerned to resolve their differences in accordance with the UN Charter and through dialogue.”
From time to time, Bangladesh has made it very clear that it is not dependent on China.
Recently, when the Chinese Foreign Minister expressed the desire to visit Bangladesh in the first week of August, Momen categorically told him to reschedule his visit and conveyed to Wang that he should arrive in Bangladesh only in the second week of August.
Even in June 2022, Bangladesh refuted all the claims made by China on the Padma bridge and said that the newly constructed multi-purpose Padma bridge project has been entirely funded by the Government of Bangladesh” and no “bilateral or multilateral funding agency has financially contributed to its construction.”
Earlier in May last year, the Bangladesh Government had asked China’s envoy to Dhaka, Ambassador Li Jiming, to maintain “decency and decorum” after he warned Dhaka from a public platform to desist from joining the Quadrilateral Group.
“Obviously it will not be a good idea for Bangladesh to participate in this small club of four because it will substantially damage our bilateral relationship,” China’s Ambassador had warned Bangladesh at a meeting organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association on May 12, 2021.
As expected, it was followed by the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry’s strongly worded statement.
“As a sovereign country, Bangladesh will determine the course of its foreign policy in the interest of its people,” Momen said in a sharply worded riposte.
Bangladesh has made it amply clear that it will not compromise with its national interest, however, be it financial or other allurements from China, Bangladesh Live News reported. (ANI)