Dhaka under pressure to sign US military co-op deal

[IND151]

I disagree with the view that US wants to encircle india as well. They (NASA) provided them long range ballistic missile tech, also US congress passed arms supply to india and a new deal has already been signed in US-india for exporting arms from US to india. So if there's any symptom (I didn't see any) that US wants to encircle both China and india, that's actually eye wash.

correction.

NASA helped ISRO by teaching it how to build expendable rockets and gave technical help

NASA didn't give BM tech to ISRO

 

[IND151]

I disagree with the view that US wants to encircle india as well. They (NASA) provided them long range ballistic missile tech, also US congress passed arms supply to india and a new deal has already been signed in US-india for exporting arms from US to india. So if there's any symptom (I didn't see any) that US wants to encircle both China and india, that's actually eye wash.

correction.

NASA helped ISRO by teaching it how to build expendable rockets and gave technical help

NASA didn't give BM tech to ISRO

 

[PlanetSoldier]

How is having a Defence pact with US gonna help our defence relations with China.

I'm against anything that hampers Sino-Bangla relations.

 

[kalu_miah]

The operating word of this article is "Under pressure".It may be a fantasy of column reporter.

Bangladesh has strategic significance for china but none for US.



Again that ASEAN+ delusion.No one is buying into your delusional fantasies.

Probably you do not realise that India is full dailouge partner of ASEAN and has signed FTA with them.

Of course some pdf Indians living in a world of make believe cannot see that ASEAN+3 (China+South Korea+Japan) economic integration is much further along which India hopes to follow with an ASEAN FTA, but FTA means nothing in the long term. Japan and Korea, if they ever join in ASEAN+ grouping will never accept China or India in it, for the simple reason, they do not want to be dominated by countries with billion plus population. None of the other countries in this space provide a long term threat of domination for them, like China and India does with their size of population. So while China and India becomes powerful because of their size of population, the same advantage works as a disadvantage for them to be acceptable in any kind of future union. China will get Taiwan at best, may be Singapore, although it is a long shot, and India will get land locked Bhutan for sure and China will try to snatch Nepal away from India or keep it as a buffer state. That will be destiny for China and India in the long run. Again FTA, trade etc. means nothing when it comes to security and strategic partnership and some level of political integration in the very long term. But then no one expects some pdf Indian posters to understand that.

 

[PlanetSoldier]

I also think that the US may have had a rethink on South Asia .......

Pretty simple....smell of BoB oil and gas possessed by both Burma and Bangladesh made them rethink on South Asia .

 

[kalu_miah]

Why India should object??????????

The very fact that US has Deigo Garcia already makes it redundant for us whether they have a base in Bangladesh or not.They could easily act against India from there......

On the other hand signing this deal will piss china off mightily.It is very much in favour of India that Bangladesh provides base to US.

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this statement? I think Indian strategists would be up in arms if Bangladesh gives US any basing rights, although it is none of their business, what we do with our "sovereign and independent" country.

I personally do not think we should get into any deal with the US, before we know what US long term plan is in the region. The US strategists made a bunch of extremely stupid decisions because of incompetence of their policy wonks (so called experts) and we do not need to suffer because some idiot in the state dept or some so called expert former professor had some "brilliant" flash of bright ideas, one of which was using Saudi extremism in Afghanistan theater to drive out the Soviets which spawned "Islamic terror" "Al Qaeda" etc. as a blowback and the rest is history along with the GWOT over reaction which still continues as we speak.

 

[scholseys]

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this statement? I think Indian strategists would be up in arms if Bangladesh gives US any basing rights, although it is none of their business, what we do with our "sovereign and independent" country.

I personally do not think we should get into any deal with the US, before we know what US long term plan is in the region. The US strategists made a bunch of extremely stupid decisions because of incompetence of their policy wonks (so called experts) and we do not need to suffer because some idiot in the state dept or some so called expert former professor had some "brilliant" flash of bright ideas, one of which was using Saudi extremism in Afghanistan theater to drive out the Soviets which spawned "Islamic terror" "Al Qaeda" etc. etc. and the rest is history along with the blow back and the GWOT over reaction which still continues as we speak.

If you want that ASEAN pipe dream to come true, then ASEAN is the way to go. Japan and S.Korea are america's b11tch. US plans years ahead. It is forecasted that by 2050, the Indian economy will be the leading economy. Just my 2 cents...now India sucks up to US, but as time passes my dad says even a cat becomes a tiger...just my 2 cents

 

[Zarvan]

Dhaka under pressure to sign US military co-op deal

New Age | Newspaper

Shakhawat Hossain

Dhaka is under pressure from Washington to sign a military cooperation deal aimed at enhancing the rapid deployment capability of the US forces far away from their bases, officials said on Wednesday.

The proposed deal called the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement was first put forward by the United States to Bangladesh’s Armed Forces Division in 2006.
But there has been no significant development in the following years as Dhaka showed less interest in the deal.

The US embassy in Dhaka has intensified its diplomatic efforts since 2011 to make the Armed Forces Division agree to sign the proposed deal.

According to a US news release issued on April 24, the United States is aware of a plan of Bangladesh on military modernisation.

The US assistant secretary for Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Andrew J Shapiro, at Carnegie Endowment Roundtable discussion in Washington on April 24 said, ‘The modernisation efforts provide an opportunity for us to expand our security cooperation, especially through our Excess Defence Articles programme, which makes US equipment that is surplus to our requirements available to our partners.’

Shapiro, who led an 11-member US delegation to a dialogue in Dhaka on April 19, also discussed the potential for US security cooperation with India and Bangladesh.
The recent visit by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in the capital expedited the US efforts.

A team of US military officials is scheduled to visit the capital in the next week to discuss with the local military officials the proposed deal, the officials said.
The officials said the US military officials would be in Dhaka in May 14-18 for detailed discussion on the proposed deal.

The Armed Forces Division, meanwhile on May 7, held an inter-ministerial meeting before the official talks on the proposed Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement.

The Armed Forced Division is expected to hold another meeting in a couple of the days for further discussion on the proposed deal, draft of which has already been sent to the division.

Sri Lanka was the 90th country to sign the ACSA with the United States in 2007.

According to WikiLeaks, the US Embassy in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo wrote in a message that the US Pacific Command had sought to enter into the deal with Sri Lanka since 2002.
Sri Lanka, positioned astride major sea lanes and at the doorstep to India, can play a significant role in military readiness as political and military efforts shift focus on Asia in the new millennium, it said.

‘The signing will expand DoD’s capacity and capability to conduct global operations by adding another logistical option in South Asia, which ultimately reduces cost and provides flexibility to US forces moving through the region,’ it added.

Dhaka and Washington on May 5 signed a joint declaration on a ‘partnership dialogue’ to hold annual consultations to give strategic direction to bilateral relations.

The joint declaration is a first major deal between Bangladesh and the United States that had for long discussed the signing of a deal on trade and investment-related issues, but failed.

Local trade experts held a number discussions with US trade experts on the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between 2001 and 2010 at home and abroad, but failed to reach a consensus.

Both the sides are now discussing the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement, an old document with a new name, to further bilateral relations.

What is America offering Bangladesh in form of weapons ?

 

[kalu_miah]

If you want that ASEAN pipe dream to come true, then ASEAN is the way to go. Japan and S.Korea are america's b11tch

Not sure what you meant, please explain.

 

[MadDog]

The main reason for this is that after the withdrawal of US from Afghanistan in 2014, the main focus will shift from US Central Command ( which focuses on Greater Middle East including Afghanistan and Pakistan ) and will shift to US military's Pacific command (which includes China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India) in order to counter China in the Pacific region.
Here is a map showing US military commands and their designated areas around the world

 

[bd_4_ever]

I am not really not in favour of a US treaty with BD. Nevertheless, I must say US has been protecting tiny countries like Kuwait, UAE, Israel, Jordan, Taiwan, Japan etc. from being overwhelmed by the much superior powers around them. USA is a troble for Pakistan, because Pakistan wants war. Iraq, because it grabbed a tiny Quawit. It wants to surround China because it is becoming a challenge and may try to overwhelm Taiwan and japan. It may also enter India's NE. So, USA wants to fill in the gaps between a big power and its smaller neighbours without really fightng.

The most likely scenario is to challenge China and keep an eye on them. But the problem is, China already has good presence in BD..in terms of economy, politics and military. Russia also suddenly came up to let us train their troops and give us war-birds etc. Having said that, USA should have then realized that BD is a strategic position and presence of above mentioned countries will make USA's influence weaker in the region. Its probably out of uncertainty USA is doing it or i dont fathom why they have this adrenaline rush all of a sudden!

But its true that our economy is partly dependent on US concessions. USA might not want to harm the trade through sanctions and any sort of 'threats'..but just trying to get their work done in a nice manner.

And about US protecting some countries..i trust my BD-08-using military more for protecting me then US.


Cheers!!!

What is America offering Bangladesh in form of weapons ?

They will provide something higher for our standard, just to please us initially.


Cheers!!!

Russia is our old friend, it's just our political leaders didn't have the vision to continue with them otherwise they were willing to take part in real development of BD and also they never acted like a master with us.

That is the thing! Now we show interest with Russia and USA drops in the scene from somewhere..definitely there is a connection.


Cheers!!!

 

[illusion8]

Aren't India and the US strategic partners, so will the US enter into Indian sphere of influence without direct consent of India?

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

This may be very bad thing in future for India. If US gets a base in Bangladesh, (they already control AfPak region).

They can keep both India and China under tab.

We can never know the intentions of US, today they are opposing China but tomorrow they will oppose India. So the US base in Bangladesh will be a future headache for India.

 

[TopCat]

Aren't India and the US strategic partners, so will the US enter into Indian sphere of influence without direct consent of India?

US-BD relation is older than IND-US relationship. India does not have any sphere of influence whatsoever.

 

[illusion8]

US-BD relation is older than IND-US relationship. India does not have any sphere of influence whatsoever.

I expected a more practical poster to answer my question, but anyways this inclusion of BD will be a security arrangement between India - US and BD.

My assumption is this is a continuity in India's pursuit of normalizing relations between all its neighbors.