In this age, the age of a poly polar world, a country has to become a part of some kind of satellite state of a superpower. This can influence the country’s foreign policies as well as can affect severely on her development project. So, to preserve her interests, a country needs the ability to create her own sphere of influence. If we analyze today’s world politics, we can see that some countries are already trying to be a superpower. Like Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and especially India. I am denoting the world as poly polar because the world is not dependent on any single superpower. What we had seen after the fall of Soviet Union, US had done a lot of works and engaged itself with several wars. In the case of today, US can’t declare war single-handedly. It has to see the possible intervention of regional powers intended to be a superpower by beating a superpower, US. In this situation, should Bangladesh go for turning itself into a superpower? If yes, then how?
Why Should Bangladesh Be A Superpower?
Bangladesh is encircled by India from three sides and on the other side, Bay of Bengal is situated. There is a short border with Myanmar. An interesting fact is that there is a cold war between India and China to turn Bangladesh into their ally. A shift towards one of these countries can cost us many things. If we go with China, India may fund insurgents in our country. If we go with India, we will no longer be able to get Chinese assistance. As we are a developing one, we can’t risk the loss of a partner. In this sense, we have to be self-reliant. It can only be possible if we turn us into a regional power and ultimately, a superpower.
How Can We Do This?
As we all know Bangladesh shares a little amount of border with Myanmar, we have got some issues with it. Due to the Rohingya crisis and smuggling issue, we have to bring Myanmar close to us. Today, Myanmar has found itself in a cold war between India and China. The military-backed government is mainly influenced by China. India is putting constant pressure on them to create opportunities on behalf of them to prevent China’s “String of Pearl”. In this plan, China targets to encircle India and bypass the Malacca route in case of a sudden attack. Also, it wants to decrease it’s a dependency from it’s competitors of the South China Sea. In this situation, Bangladesh can include Myanmar in its own sphere of influence. As Bangladesh is now a neutral state and it is balancing both powers quite efficiently, there is a strong possibility to get positive outcomes from both of the powers. It will help Myanmar to become “free”. Myanmar wants to rule independently. Bangladesh can be their guarantor. We can also help to democratize the parliamentary system of Myanmar as their parliament needs the approval of the military to implement a rule. For this, first, we have to change our investment policy. We have to encourage corporate houses to invest money in Myanmar. By doing this more and more, we can surreptitiously make Myanmar dependent on us. This will influence their foreign policy. If we become a major contributor to their economy, we can then try to send back those refugees. We also need to improve its antiquated system. We must help them to digitalize it with the assistance of our local IT farms. By sending our IT farms, we can gain control over their internal matters. This will help us to gather intelligence. During this period, a fraction of the ultra-nationalist movement may try to hamper our vision. To minimize this, we must buy those politicians. Some may not be bought but a section can be. Otherwise, we can put pressure on Myanmar government to neutralize them.
Fig: Bangladesh-Myanmar mutual pact
Source: theguardian.com
Before this process, we need to invest money in our education sector to make efficient manpower. We can then send them there to train Myanmar’s people and generate a sphere of influence. We also need to invest in R&D.
The democratic fraction of Myanmar will possibly agree with us as they don’t want to rule under Chinese influence. For military fraction, we must invite their high ranking officials for training. We must increase mutual cooperation. This may seem weird but this is the only way we can make a good ally. We can then use them to minimize our threats. We need to go for a diplomatic and economic way rather than a full-scale military war. Our investment in Myanmar can make our local companies into international giants. The people there do not have a good amount of money on their hands. Our affordable and quality products can get a good amount of sales there.
Fig: BGB-BGP joint patrol
Source:sydneyherald.net
In this way, we will get Myanmar on our side. If we go with one superpower, Myanmar can be our trump card then. Because, it has a large number of natural gas reserves and it is the only place of some rare earth materials, like Jade stones. It’s geographical location can compel other powers to negotiate with us before discussing a topic.
