Bangladesh prepares a two-plus-two dialogue with China as Teesta returns to the table
Humaiun Kobir said a two-plus-two diplomacy and defence dialogue with China is being prepared for the near future, with no dates fixed. Ambassador Yao Wen discussed the Teesta River project, a China-Myanmar-Bangladesh corridor, a China industrial zone and Mongla Port modernisation. Kobir reaffirmed the One China policy two months after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's China visit. About 10 Nepali and about 12 Chinese officials met in Kathmandu on May 27 on glacier and flood hazards; Nepali officials later said they still lacked the data they wanted.
Geopolitics··Morning
Dhaka says a two-plus-two with China will start in the very near future
Bangladesh's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday that the groundwork for a two-plus-two engagement with China is being laid and that it will commence at a mutually convenient time in the very near future. He said the dialogue will cover diplomacy and defence at the level of Minister of State and then move to Foreign Minister level, and that no dates have been fixed. Two-plus-two here means those paired diplomacy and defence talks, first at minister-of-state level.[1]
Yao Wen puts Teesta, Mongla Port and a China industrial zone on the table
Kobir spoke after Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen called on him at the Foreign Ministry to discuss projects including the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, the China-Myanmar-Bangladesh corridor, a China Economic and Industrial Zone, a commercial contract for modernising Mongla Port and possible Chinese cooperation on a Mongla export processing zone. The announcement came two months after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to China, and Kobir reaffirmed Bangladesh's commitment to the One China policy.[1]
Nepal still lacked the glacier data it wanted after the May Kathmandu meeting
Three months before flash floods killed hundreds in a Himalayan valley on the Nepal-China border, about 10 officials from Nepal and about 12 from China, including the Tibet region, met in Kathmandu on May 27 to discuss monitoring and responding to floods, weather and glacier hazards. Participants called for joint risk-reduction measures, including inventories of glacial lakes and hazard mapping. Two Nepali officials said they did not receive as much information as they wanted from China on glacier risks and water levels after the meeting, and said insufficient data sharing could hamper their ability to anticipate and prepare for major disasters. Sauhardra Joshi, a hydrologist at Nepal's Flood Forecasting Division who attended the May meeting, said what they wanted, and still want, is early notice of movements of glaciers and of movements around that area. No officials or experts have blamed either side for the disaster.[2]
