Event: Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Tarique Rahman arrives for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing on Friday. | Photo Credit: Reuters China’s relation with Bangladesh does not “target” a third party, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of China on Friday (June 26, 2026).The remark from the spokesperson of the MoFA came soon after China expressed support for Bangladesh’s Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, one of the largest river-based development projects in South Asia and said it will expedite a feasibility study of the project.“The comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation of the Teesta river is a livelihood project the Bangladeshi side attaches high importance to. China is ready to do what it can to support this project. I would like to stress that China-Bangladesh cooperation does not target any third party and should be free from third-party influence,” said spokesperson Guo Jiakun while briefing presspersons in Beijing.The discussion on the Teesta river took place during Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first official visit to China. Mr. Rahman was hosted by Premier Li Qiang and had a meeting with President Xi Jinping during June 25-26.A joint statement issued at the end of the visit mentioned that China will “provide support and help within its capacity to the Teesta project”. It also said that Beijing will support experts from two countries in “expediting the feasibility study of the project” while announcing stronger cooperation in maritime affairs.Water diplomacyApart from Teesta, the two sides agreed to collaborate in areas like integrated water resources management, water resources planning, hydrological forecasting, flood prevention and disaster reduction, and river dredging. River-related collaboration is expected to help in managing Meghna (Brahmaputra/Yarlung Tsangpo), the second biggest river of Bangladesh, and also responsible for annual floods in the country.Mr. Xi…

As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked by anaemic deliverables, poor transparency and missed opportunities, analysts and former US officials point to another disappointment: the world’s most consequential relationship has become inordinately dependent on the two nations’ top leaders.Trump’s May China trip, the first by a US president in nearly a decade, produced vague and contradictory readouts, puffed up promises, a few underwhelming deals and no communique.And the two sides failed to address deep-seated structural problems, leaving tense US-China relations increasingly dependent on occasional contact between presidents.“Coming out of this visit, it’s pretty clear that Donald Trump runs China policy,” said Evan Medeiros, Asia studies chair at Georgetown University and a former China director at the National Security Council (NSC).“He’s clearly very heavily personally and politically invested in this relationship, and we should expect him to be the China desk officer going forward for the remainder of 2026.”Trump’s turbulent management style and mercurial personality, which he prides himself on, provide a rickety structure, hardly a solid foundation for bilateral or global stability, analysts add.This is not Beijing’s preferred approach. While most nations prepare exhaustively for summits, Beijing takes it to another level, paying exhaustive attention to details ranging from the mundane to the strategic.

Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman sought Chinese technical assistance in the Teesta management project. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is on his first official visit to China on Thursday (June 25, 2026), received Chinese proposals for providing technical assistance for Bangladesh’s development plans for the Teesta, a transboundary river that is shared by Bangladesh and India. The issue featured in the talks held at the Great Hall of the People between Mr. Rahman and Chinese Premier Li Qiang where the two sides signed 13 agreements.Teesta has been a matter of contention between India and Bangladesh as Dhaka has been demanding formal sealing of a deal that would allow it secure the necessary amount of water from the river for its lean winter months. The deal was held back earlier because of perceived objection from former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. It was expected that following the defeat of Ms. Banerjee in the recent election, the Teesta deal would find greater support from the Indian side.Earlier, the Chinese had proposed that they would provide both an engineering as well as a commercial plan to upgrade the river as well as the surrounding areas in northern Bangladesh so that the area around the river would become a zone of economic activities.China has said the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project would include dredging of more than 100 km of the river, which would allow better management of the river’s water and prevent erosion. It also entails creation of large reservoirs to store water in monsoon months so that the stored water could be used in winter months. That apart, the proposal envisages creating townships and economic hubs in areas that would be reclaimed from the riverbed for economic activities.Also read: What does Chinese interest in…