China will help Bangladesh construct the first submarine base, but Chinese subs will not use the facility, said an official.
The future base will house two Chinese-made submarines purchased by Dhaka from Beijing in 2016, Col (retd) Faruk Khan, chairman of the parliamentary committees on foreign policy and defense, was quoted by Indonesia-based BenarNews as saying on Thursday (Sept 13).
Financed by Bangladesh, the facility will be built in a southeastern district on the Bay of Bengal.
“We are going to construct a submarine base in Cox’s Bazar with Chinese assistance. We have procured two submarines from China, so we need a submarine base. Unless we build a base, where will the submarines be stationed,” said Khan, a senior official of the ruling Awami League.
“The Chinese will help us build the base and impart training to our personnel to operate the submarines and base. The Chinese submarines will not come here. The base is for our submarines,” he told BenarNews.
The two submarines that Dhaka purchased for U.S. $205 million are berthed at a Bangladeshi naval base in Chittagong, BenarNews quoted navy officials.
However, Dhaka is yet to sign any agreement with Beijing on the submarine facility’s construction, Khan told the media outlet without disclosing more details on the project’s estimated cost and specific location.
In December 2017, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the country planned to build a submarine base with a jetty next to a future naval base in Kutubdia, a sub-district of Cox’s Bazar, according to state news agency BSS.
In May, a local English daily quoted officials as saying it would cost an estimated Tk 103 billion to build the submarine base.
BenarNews requested information about the submarine base from Bangladesh's military and Ministry of Defense, but claimed to receive no reply.
Analysts think the move to procure Chinese submarines and build a submarine base was “not aimed at India,”
“The submarines Bangladesh procured from China are conventional in nature. So, I do not think that India should be worried about it,” security analyst Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury was quoted by BenarNews as saying.
NO SIDE IN INDIA-CHINA REGIONAL RIVALRY
When the issues of Indian media reports suggesting that India’s longtime ally Bangladesh was now siding with China was drawn to Khan's attention, the lawmaker told BenarNews Bangladesh “is not tilted toward India or China.”
“We have friendly relations with both India and China. So, this is not true that Bangladesh is aligned with China against India, and vice versa. Our policy is friendship to all, malice to none” he said.
“There will always be a fight between big powers for dominance. But I think no big power could influence us for their interests,” he added.