Chinese Campaign Blames US For Dhaka Regime Change

“The long-term interference of external forces is an important reason for the political turmoil in Bangladesh,” Shi said in his article.“Bangladesh has to pay the price for its increased geostrategic value.”

“What is happening in Bangladesh is a classic example of 'a color revolution' while the United States' role in this transition is clear,” he wrote.“The most influential external forces and the most willing to use their influence in Bangladesh are undoubtedly the US and India.”

Without providing more details, Shi cited the comments of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as“evidence” of the United States' involvement in a“color revolution” in Bangladesh.

“Zakharova had already said on December 25 last year that if the results of the Bangladesh parliamentary election on January 7, 2024, were not in line with the United States' wishes, the US would start a 'color revolution' in Bangladesh,” Shi said, adding that the US had attacked the Hasina administration with its ideological advocacy.

In January this year, Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, renewed her term after her Awami League won an absolute majority in the parliament in local elections. But in July, Bangladeshi students and workers held weeks of protests against the Hasina administration, which had been in power for about 15 years.

The protests and the government's crackdown reportedly led to the deaths of 300 people, the injuries of thousands of people and the arrests of around 10,000 people.

On August 5, Hasina fled the country and resigned. On August 8, Muhammad Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, took charge as chief advisor of Bangladesh's interim government.

“A 'color revolution' broke out in Bangladesh after media reports said the country was seeking to borrow US$5 billion from China to replenish its foreign reserve,” Wang Jin, an associate professor and the assistant director of the Institute of Middle East Studies, Northwest University of China, said in an article published last month.

Wang pointed out that Hasina had for a long time maintained a good relationship with China. He said Hasina signed 20 cooperation agreements with Chinese leaders in Beijing in early July.

Wang said the US did not want to see the strengthening of political and economic ties between Bangladesh and China. He said the US wanted to overthrow the Hasina government via a“color revolution” in order to obtain strategic ports in Bangladesh. Beyond those general complaints, Wang did not elaborate on what the US had done in the country.

In 2018, the government decided to transform the Matarbari Port into a deep-sea port, which is set to be completed by January 2027. The country's ports at Chittagong and Montoya both were handicapped by shallow draft and were seriously congested.

A Beijing-based commentator said in an article published on August 11 that the resignation of pro-Beijing Hasina was a victory for the United States'“color revolution” but that such a trend might threaten China's 70%-owned deepwater port project in Kyaukphyu, Myanmar.

“While the US is increasing its influence in South Asia, the strategic value of the Bay of Bengal is also growing,” the writer said.“If the US succeeds in supporting a pro-American regime in Bangladesh, it may establish military bases there, which will threaten China's maritime transport routes.”

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Last December, Myanmar's military government and China's CITIC Group signed an addendum to a concession agreement to resume work on the Kyaukphyu port. The project had been delayed for 15 years due to political instability in Myanmar and the pandemic.

Criticizing the NED

In recent years, Beijing has repeatedly called out the US for promoting“color revolutions,” including the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Arab Spring.

In May 2022, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published a fact sheet , in which it said the National Endowment for Democracy is a US government agency run by“white gloves” operators taking the role of“democracy crusaders,” which has subverted lawful governments and cultivated pro-US puppet forces around the world. Zhao Lijiang, a spokesperson of the foreign ministry, said the NED is actually the second CIA of the US.

The foreign ministry on August 9 this year published a report with the title“The NED: what it is and what it does.” The report said the NED is now cultivating pro-US forces in target countries, including Russia, Iran, Cuba and Mexico, manipulating elections in Serbia, Nigeria and the Philippines and infiltrating Europe.

On different occasions, the NED has said its general strategy is to empower like-minded activists to build new political movements in their home countries.

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