The US Indo-pacific Strategy: Bangladesh Foreign Policy Perspective

Abstract

The return of the languages such as great power game, alliance politics, Cold War 2.0, and realpolitik in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical and geostrategic literature is an apt reminder that the Indo-Pacific region has emerged as a critical pivot that will determine international peace and stability in the coming years. Emerging and transition economies constantly face foreign policy and national security dilemmas as global politics increasingly become bipolar. The US and China are critical stakeholders in the region, and countries like Bangladesh are pushed to pursue an act of balancing between these two powers. Stability in Myanmar, the Bay of Bengal, and post-pandemic economic growths are the critical determinants for Bangladesh’s strategic and foreign policy stances toward two sets of structures - the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Chinese led BRI. Bangladesh’s version of the Indo-Pacific engagement henceforth is determined by continuity-discontinuity debates in terms of the US’s IPS and economic reliability and supply chain stability discourse that makes the Chinese economy a critical part of Bangladesh’s development.