• Beijing and Dhaka should “solidly support each other”.
• Yunus’ visit shows Bangladesh “send a message”.
• China insists on retaining Dhaka’s good companion: xi.

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Friday to work more deeply with Bangladesh counterpart Muhammad Yunus, a meeting in Dhaka seeking new friends to offset the frost ties with India.

Yunus, who was in charge of Bangladesh last August, fled to New Delhi after the student-led uprising after the overthrow of the authoritarian former expert Sheikh Hasina.

India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government, whose strike sent cross-border relations to a tail, eventually choosing to make its first state visit to China, India’s largest Asian rival.

Xi Jinping told Yunus on Friday that Beijing is “willing to cooperate with Bangladesh and push bilateral cooperation to a new level”, China National Broadcasting Corporation CCTV Report.

Xi Jinping said: “China… insists on good neighbors, good friends and good partners based on mutual trust.”

The Chinese leader reportedly said Beijing and Dhaka should “resolutely support” in their core interests and support Bangladesh, including issues such as protecting national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

He added that the two countries will explore cooperation in infrastructure construction, reservoirs and digital, marine and environmental sectors.

Dhaka said this week that Yunus’ visit to China indicated that Bangladesh was “sending messages.”

The 84-year-old Nobel Prize winner is expected to return home on Saturday after several other high-level meetings in the Chinese capital.

According to the Bangladesh government, several agreements are expected to be signed on economic and technical assistance, cultural and sports cooperation and media cooperation between the two countries.

Negotiations are also expected to touch Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee population, most of whom fled violent military repression in neighboring Myanmar in 2017.

China has served as a mediator between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past to promote the repatriation of persecuted minorities, although efforts have stalled due to Myanmar’s reluctance to return.

Tensions in India

Senior figures from the Indian and Bangladesh governments have traded barbs in front of Yunus’ residents.

These tensions have almost completely stopped Bangladesh’s trip to India for medical tourism, with thousands of people crossing the border every year to seek care among its larger neighbors.

Dhaka’s top foreign ministry bureaucrat said this week that the talks in Beijing would involve the establishment of a “friendship hospital” in Bangladesh.

Yunus’s caretaker government completes the arduous task of inculcating democratic reforms ahead of the expected new elections in mid-2026.

So far, it has asked India to allow Hasina’s extradition to allegedly kill hundreds of protesters during the turmoil that overthrew her government.

Yunus also sought a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reset the relationship, both expected to meet in the same regional summit in Bangkok next month.

His government has not received a response, with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar saying the request was “under review”.