I?Political Relations

The People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of Bangladesh officially established diplomatic relations on October 4, 1975. Since then the friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries have been growing soundly and smoothly. Fruitful cooperation has been achieved in the fields of politics, economy, military and culture, etc. Both the countries share basically identical opinions on most international and regional issues and conduct close coordination with each other in the international arena. There have existed between China and Bangladesh frequent exchanges of high-level visits, increasing contacts as well as expanding cooperation in various fields.

1) Sino-Bangladesh relations in the period of Zia Rahman

After coming into power in November 1975, Zia Rahman carried out a foreign policy of non-alignment and actively developed its relations with China.

In January 1977, under China's invitation Zia Rahman visited China as Chief Executive of Marshal Law and Chief of the Army Staff of Bangladesh. During his talks with Chinese leadership, Zia Rahman extended his appreciation to China for supporting Bangladesh to safeguard its national independence and in the issue of the sharing of Ganges water. The two governments signed the Agreement of Economic and Technological Cooperation and the Agreement of Trade Payment.

In March 1978, Vice Premier Li Xiannian was invited to visit Bangladesh. This is the first ever visit taken by Chinese leadership to Bangladesh. During the visit, both the countries signed the Agreement of Cooperation in Economy, Science and Technology.

In August 1980, President Zia Rahman visited China. The two governments inked the Agreement of Loans and the Agreement of Aviation Transportation.

2) Sino-Bangladesh relations in the period of Hussain Mohammad Ershad

Mr. Hussain Mohammad Ershad attached great importance to the development of Bangladesh's relations with China. Within over 9 years after Hussain Mohammad Ershad came into power in March 1983, Mr. Ershad paid 5 visits to China (respectively in November 1982, July 1985, July 1987, November 1988 and in June 1990). During his talks and meetings with Chinese leadership, Mr. Ershad said the relations between China and Bangladesh had most solid foundation since both the countries enjoyed common targets and interests. The Chinese side stressed that the Sino-Bangladesh relationship was that of mutual trust and mutual support. China appreciated Bangladesh's principled stand on adhering to "one China" policy and having no official ties with Taiwan. Both the countries successively signed the Agreement of Cooperation in Science and Technology and the Agreement of Establishing Meeting System between Officials of the two Foreign Ministries.

In March 1986, President Li Xiannian of China visited Bangladesh. Both sides expressed the determination to further strengthen the traditional friendship and expand cooperation so as to promote the bilateral relations to a higher level. Mr. Hussain Mohammad Ershad praised China as a friend of Bangladesh that could stand up to all kinds of tests. President Li Xiannian appreciated Bangladesh's efforts in enhancing good-neighboring friendship among South Asian countries and promoting regional cooperation in South Asia and its positive contributions to safeguarding peace and stability in the region of South Asia and Asia as a whole.

In November 1989, Premier Li Peng paid an official goodwill visit to Bangladesh, during which both sides signed the Agreement on Mutual Exemption of Visas and the Agreement of Trade.

3) Sino-Bangladesh relations in the period of Khalida Zia

In March 1991, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won the election and Begum Khalida Zia became Prime Minister of the government. The new government declared to inherit the internal and external policies of the late President Zia Rahman. The friendly relations and cooperation continued to grow.

In June 1991 Prime Minister Khalida Zia paid an official goodwill visit to China. During her talks with Chinese leadership, Khalida Zia expressed her thanks to China for providing assistance when Bangladesh suffered hurricane in 1991. The Chinese leadership stressed that it would be a consistent policy of China to develop friendly relations with Bangladesh, which would by no means be affected by the changes of either international situation or domestic situation in Bangladesh.

4) Sino-Bangladesh relations in the period of Sheikh Hashina

In June 1996, the Awami League won the 7th parliament election and its Chairperson Sheikh Hashina became Prime Minister. After coming into power, the Awami League paid importance to the friendly ties with China and the Sino-Bangladesh relations continued to develop stably.

In September 1996, Prime Minister Sheikh Hashina paid an official goodwill visit to China, which was her first visit to foreign countries after assuming the Prime Minister's office. The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to China for its assistance to Bangladesh and her willingness to learn successful experience from China in developing national economy. During the visit, two countries signed the Agreement on Encouraging and Protecting Investment, the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Agreement of the Prevention of Tax Evasion.

In April 1999, Mr. Li Peng, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China took an official good will visit to Bangladesh. During his talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hashina, the Prime Minister extend sincere thanks to the Chinese government for its unselfish assistance to Bangladesh. Chairman Li Peng stressed that any support and assistance was always mutual. He expressed appreciation and thanks to Bangladesh for its consistent position of supporting China in the issues of human rights, Taiwan, Tibet, etc.

During the Millenium Summit in September 2000, Prime Minister Sheikh Hashina attended, upon invitation, the breakfast meeting held by President Jiang Zemin.

5) China - Bangladesh relations after Begum Khaleda Zia came to power again
 
In October 2001, the four party alignment under the leadership of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won in the 8th national assembly election with president of the Jatiyo (National) Party Khaleda Zia again came to be prime minister of the government after five years. The Nationalist Party continued to carry out the traditional friendship policy towards China and so the friendly cooperation relations between China and Bangladesh obtained new development.

In January 2002, Premier Zhu Rongji visited Bangladesh and held talks with Prime Minister Khalida Zia. Both the sides reiterated to further enhance the bilateral friendship and cooperation, with focus on the issues of bilateral economic cooperation and trade ties. The two countries signed Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation, Certificate of Handover of the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center, Executive Program of the Cultural Agreement for 2001-2003 and four other agreements.

In December 2002, Prime Minister Khalida Zia visited China. The Chinese side reiterated its policy of attaching high importance to the relations between the two countries, and pointed out that there were no obstacles hindering the bilateral relations and the objective of both sides was to consolidate the bilateral friendship and to deepen the bilateral cooperation. The two countries signed Exchange of Letters Regarding the Loan Used for the Project of Bangladesh-China Friendship International Conference Center to Be Converted to Grant, Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation and two other agreements. The two prime ministers exchanging visits in the same year was an important event in development of China-Bangladesh relations and laid a sound foundation for the further development of bilateral relations in the new century.

II. Economic and Trade Relations and Cooperation in Science and Technology

In recent years the economic and trade ties between China and Bangladesh have considerably developed with gradual expansion in cooperation fields. According to the statistics of the Chinese Customs, the bilateral trade volume in 2002 amounted to $1.098 billion with an increase of 13.1% as opposed to the previous year, including an export of $1.066 billion and an import of $32 million, up 11.6% and 93.8% respectively on the part of China.

In November 1983, a joint committee on economy, trade and science and technology between China and Bangladesh was set up. In principle, the joint committee holds its meeting in the capitals of the two countries in turn. Up to now the joint committee has had 10 meetings (respectively in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 2002).

China's major imports from Bangladesh are raw materials like leather, cotton textiles, fish, etc. And major exports are: textiles, machinery and electronic products, cement, fertilizer, tyre, raw silk, maize, etc.

III. Bilateral Contacts and Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Science and Technology, Education and Military Affairs, etc.

1) Cooperation in Culture and education

In November 1979, the Chinese and Bangladesh governments signed the Agreement of Cooperation on Culture, after which an implementation program for cultural exchanges is signed every three years. With the signing of the Agreement, bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture and sports have been continuously strengthened. Many delegations and groups have exchanged visits between the two countries. A cultural delegation of the Bangladesh government visited China in 1997. Within the year, there were totally 18 visits including 97 persons between the two countries. In 1998, China Hangzhou Youth Acrobatic Troupe visited in Bangladesh and the two countries exchanged totally 7 visits including 47 persons. In 1999, a cultural delegation of the Bangladesh government visited China and signed the 1998-2000 implementation program for cultural exchanges. Bangladesh National Troupe of Arts visited China while China National Acrobatic Troupe visited Bangladesh in the year. China National Bureau of Historical Relics provided as gifts to the Bangladesh side replicas of Chinese historical relics worthy of hundreds of thousands RMB yuan. There were totally 10 visits including 63 persons in the field of culture. In 2001 and 2002, Bangladesh National Troupe of Arts visited China for 2 times to attend activities in Beijing. In January 2002, Chongqing Children Acrobatic Troupe visited Bangladesh.

China and Bangladesh started to exchange students since 1976. There were 58 Bangladesh students in China in 2001. In 1986, the Bangladesh government provided funds to build the premises for the First Experimental Primary School in Beijing. The school was named Sino-Bangladesh Friendship School.

2) Cooperation in Science and Technology

China and Bangladesh signed the Agreement of Cooperation on Science and Technology in March 1978 and the Agreement was renewed in 1990. From 1979 to 1991 the two countries held 5 meetings of cooperation on science and technology.

Achievements have been made in bilateral cooperation on flood control and regulation of rivers. In this regard, officials and experts from the water conservancy departments of the two governments exchanged visits and signed an MOU of technological cooperation on water conservancy. Specific cooperation projects included dike arrangement and sectional design for the Brahmaputra River, regulating the River's watercourses and joint research on the River's watercourses and silt movement.

3) Military contacts and cooperation

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Bangladesh has had close cooperation in the military field. The leaders of the two armed forces have exchanged visits frequently, which have contributed to the continuous development of friendship and cooperation between the two armed forces.