SEOUL, 08 November 2022, (TON): North Korea’s military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests were practices to “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and US targets such as air bases and operation command systems with a variety of missiles that likely included nuclear-capable weapons.

The North’s announcement underscored leader Kim Jong Un’s determination not to back down in the face of his rivals’ push to expand their military exercises.

But some experts say Kim also used their drills as an excuse to modernize his nuclear arsenal and increase his leverage in future dealings with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes toward the sea last week triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas in protest of massive US-South Korean air force drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): Air pollution still remains one of the top-most challenges for Bangladesh and Dhaka has been ranked as the second most polluted city in the world.

With an air quality index score of 180 at 8:00am on Monday, the metropolitan city ranked second in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.

An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.

India’s Delhi and Vietnam’s Hanoi occupied the first and third spots in the list, with AQI scores of 277 and 176, respectively.

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): United Nations independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons Claudia Mahler began her 11-day visit to Bangladesh focusing on older persons’ rights in specific contexts, including emergency situations related to climate change and forced displacement.

Mahler is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of Bangladesh government and will hold discussions in Dhaka, Rangpur, and Chattogram with government representatives, UN presences, civil society organisations working with older persons, academics and older persons.

She said “ageing population in Bangladesh is fast growing, becoming one of the emerging issues that has been gradually increasing challenges on health services, family relationships and social security.”

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday inaugurated 100 bridges in 25 districts for traffic in her government's efforts to establish direct road connectivity to further strengthen the country's economy.

she said "It is an historical event to open 100 bridges at a time. It will contribute to country's socio-economic development.”

The bridges, constructed at a cost of over Tk879 crore, established direct road connectivity with the capital as they made 33 routes free from ferry services that will make road communication smooth, quicker, easier and safer.

Of the bridges, 46 are in Chittagong division, 17 in Sylhet division, 14 in Barisal division, seven each in Dhaka and Rajshahi division, six in Mymensingh division and three in Rangpur division.

LONDON, 08 November 2022, (TON): Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said “he had interfered in US elections and would continue doing so in future, the first such admission from a figure implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics.”

In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia’s Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said “we have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere.”

Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”

The remark by the close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was posted on the eve of the US midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site.

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): Chinese ambassador in Dhaka Li Jiming on Monday noon met Jatiya Party chairman and deputy leader in parliament Ghulam Muhammad Quader at his Uttara resident.

Emerging from the meeting JP secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu told New Age in the evening that it was a courtesy visit and the ambassador wanted to know about latest political situations of Bangladesh.

Chunnu said “Li Jiming also wanted to know our party position regarding participation of our party in the next general elections.”

We replied that our party did not believed in caretaker system of government and believed that under partisan government the free, fair and credible general elections could be held.

Chunnu added “we want a credible general elections and discussions were continuing for holding a credible general elections.”

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has said “Bangladesh supports legal migration to other countries and wants to enhance cooperation with Libya in order to curb illegal migration.”

He conveyed this to the newly appointed Ambassador of the State of Libya in Bangladesh Abdulmutalib S M Suliman.

State Minister Alam thanked the Libyan government for their continued support of the Bangladeshi workers working in Libya.

He particularly sought the cooperation of Libya in contract farming of Bangladesh agro-entrepreneurs in Libya by leasing land there.

DHAKA, 08 November 2022, (TON): Chinese ambassador in Dhaka Li Jiming on Monday noon met Jatiya Party chairman and deputy leader in parliament Ghulam Muhammad Quader at his Uttara resident.

Emerging from the meeting JP secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu told New Age in the evening that it was a courtesy visit and the ambassador wanted to know about latest political situations of Bangladesh.

Chunnu said “Li Jiming also wanted to know our party position regarding participation of our party in the next general elections.”

We replied that our party did not believed in caretaker system of government and believed that under partisan government the free, fair and credible general elections could be held.

Chunnu added “we want a credible general elections and discussions were continuing for holding a credible general elections.”

By S. Sultan

Nepal is situated at significant geo-strategic location at south Asia. Currently Nepal faces a geopolitical tussle between china and India as both countries seek to gain influence in the former Himalayan kingdom. South Asia, as part of the broader Indian Ocean region, is increasingly becoming a hub of China-India rivalry, where smaller countries are being pulled into a tug-of-war between the two, making it hard to exercise their own national interests.

Recently, Nepal’s second Confucius Institute has been built with Chinese government funding at Colombo Tribhuvan University to serve and promote Chinese culture through language classes, cultural events, and community engagement. As efforts are in offing to boost the Nepal’s tourism by attracting Chinese citizens. The effort to draw tourists from India and China is part of Nepal’s foreign policy, which has become more reliant on its two neighboring giants. As the tourism sector begins to rebound after the pandemic, Nepal can use its tourism industry as a soft-power tool to develop connections and improve ties with countries outside of the China-India binary and pursue non-aligned geopolitical and economic goals.

Earlier Chinese infrastructural limitations in Tibet and the Himalayan region had not allowed Nepal’s greater cooperation with its Northern neighbor. However, the installation of railways and connectivity in the twenty-first century gives Kathmandu a willing partner in Beijing to counterbalance Delhi’s influence.

India and Nepal’s cultural resemblances, including both countries having Hindu majority populations, make Nepal a natural tourist destination for Indian travelers. Despite Nepal’s growing tourism sector, most tourists come from neighboring countries, with a lion’s share of the country’s arrivals crossing the border from India. However, in recent years, the number of Chinese tourists has grown in part to visit Buddhist heritage sites of Nepal and participate in adventure sports.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has devastated the global tourism industry. About 47.7 million travel and tourism jobs have been affected across South Asia. Despite tourism being one of South Asia’s fastest-growing sectors in the past. Among the countries in South Asia with the most reduction in tourist arrivals in 2020 were Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, which each saw between a 70 and 80 percent reduction in tourist arrivals. However, Nepal’s tourism sector has bounced back with a 156.83 percent growth in April 2022

As Nepal’s tourism sector revitalizes, there are opportunities to mold it into an effective soft power medium for outreach to countries beyond India and China, and diluting the geopolitical tussle that Nepal is at the moment entangled in. The promotion of tourism as part of a nation’s soft power arsenal should be treated no differently from developing a company’s marketing strategy. Developing a favorable and lasting image of a country internationally will in many cases help it enhance cooperation even in the economic and military domains in the future.

Nepal could try reducing its dependence on India and China by using one of its biggest resources its tourism sector to attract visitors from countries outside of China and India. For this purpose, Nepal must diversify its tourism base. Yet, Nepal’s policymakers are still prioritizing these two countries in their tourism plans, such as in the “Visit Nepal Decade” plan.  Although Nepal already has on arrival visa policy for most nationalities, the Nepal’s Tourism Board can adopt more proactive steps to promote international tourism through its embassies and missions abroad, and use this medium as a soft power tool for people-to-people linkage and build relations beyond its immediate neighborhood.

From a political perspective, Nepal’s location is an ideal place for diplomatic negotiations. Nepal is home to SAARC’s Secretariat and UNICEF’s South Asia Headquarters. With the country now taking a role in the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal) sub-regional grouping, connectivity is expected to hasten and Nepal will have access to Bangladeshi ports. Although this connectivity pact is between four South Asian nations, once this is operational, Nepal will get the opportunity to connect by the high seas to multiple countries outside the region and will be to attract tourists from outside the world.

In the post-COVID-19 period, Nepal needs to prioritize climate change adaptation and environmental preservation for the survival of its tourism industry. As a less-developed country, Nepal suffers disproportionately from flooding and landslides. Recently, the country’s tourism department announced that it is planning to move the Everest base camp because of rapidly thinning glaciers and erosion from climbers. More collaboration with neighboring SAARC countries that are also disproportionately affected by climate change, such as Bangladesh and the Maldives, would help Nepal adopt cheaper adaptation methods.

Nepal’s “balancing act” between India and China is something practiced by other smaller countries in South Asia, including Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. As Nepal struggles to balance relations with India and China, the tourism sector provides a much-needed outlet to develop relations with third countries outside of the subcontinent.

The tourism sector can be used to reach out to nations beyond South Asia via the high seas by effective use of the BBIN framework as well as through the promotion of Nepal’s Buddhist heritage, while simultaneously addressing pertinent issues, such as human rights and climate change. As with any form of soft power, tourism will have limits as opposed to hard power such as military or economic might, but Nepal’s tourism sector has considerable untapped potential which can be a tool to promote its national interest in a progressively competitive geopolitical landscape.

By S. Habib

‘Bay of Bengal’ is the name of pride and honor for Bengalis. Although large cities like Madras (Chennai), Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, in all areas or states, is located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, but it was not named after them. Again, it was not named after a region like the Arabian Sea, but in the middle of Myanmar, Andaman Islands, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the vast territory of South Asia, the reservoir of 2.162 million square kilometers is named after Bengal. It is known to the world as the Bay of Bengal after Bengal or Bangladesh.

Bangladesh policy is not towards bipartisan international politics. Bangladesh has remained an active member of the ‘Non-Aligned Movement’ having least intention and interest to join any bloc but to be benefitted from the blocs. Bangladesh wants and believes in peaceful coexistence in the region. Despite having provocation from Myanmar during the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, it abstained from using any kind of force to avoid any kind of clash with any actor.

Since The Bay of Bengal has now become the centre of international politics due to its economic and strategic importance but in fact it extends to the bottom of Sri Lanka. It is the busiest international shipping route in the world. About 40,000 ships ply this route each year. Half of the world’s goods and fuel vessels use this route.  So USA has also headed to Bangladesh strategically in this regard. The ultimate goal of these strategic relations with Bangladesh is Bay of Bengal.

To engage Bangladesh in US-Bangladesh strategic relations in concern with Bay of Bengal, US has taken many steps keeping future in view. The US felt the need for signing two agreements, Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, or ACSA, and General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, in order to get involved in Bangladesh defense system as the two countries were considering taking already established defense cooperation to an advanced level. Hence It appeared to the US authorities from the Bangladesh Forces Goal-2030 that the country ‘is going to modernize its military’ by procuring sophisticated military hardware, including missile system and attack helicopters. The US put great stress in order to engage Bangladesh as an according to an official of US these two agreements are foundations for protecting information on defense cooperation as they are required by law that information with strategic elements are protected. Recently, The United States authorities were in negotiations on signing Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, or ACSA, and General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, for facilitating transfer of advanced defense articles to Bangladesh. GSOMIA is also negotiated on a bilateral basis. It is a reciprocal, legally-binding agreement that ensures governments understand and commit to protect classified military information at an equivalent level of security. On 31 January 2022, US ambassador in Dhaka Earl Miller disclosed after a meeting with foreign minister AK Abdul Momen that the US proposed Bangladesh to buy defense articles from the country on competitive prices.

Moreover, Bangladesh is being involved in the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). It also mirrors the previous strategy in discussing the need to strengthen U.S. alliances, reaffirm America’s role as an “Indo-Pacific power,” enhance the “Quad,” support India’s rise, expand Coast Guard activities in the region, host a summit with ASEAN leaders, and prioritize signing new Compacts of Free Association (COFAs) with the Pacific Islands. In the corresponding year, the US provided $5.3 million to cover the total cost of procurement and delivery of five Metal Shark boats to support the maritime security objectives of Bangladesh Navy.  The US also provided $3.3 million last year to send 233 members of the Bangladesh military to attend various military professionalization courses within the US and the wider Indo-Pacific region.

Despite this all, Bangladesh is trying to handle these fragmentations tactically by avoiding involvement with the blocs directly despite having a request from the USA for years; Bangladesh didn’t show any interest to sign ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) and GSOMIA (General Security of Military Information Agreement) agreements with the USA. On the other hand, When the Chinese Envoy to Bangladesh commented that Bangladesh shouldn’t join IPS this year, Bangladesh strongly protested against the remarks uttered by Chinese envoy saying Bangladesh is capable of forming its own national policy which is the capability of Bangladesh. Basically, the aim and objective of Bangladesh is very simple and clear which is friendship to all, malice to none.

The involvement of US in Bangladesh’s defense and military clearly depicts the intentions of US which are highly concerned in Bay of Bengal as US is seeking its own maritime security by engaging Bangladesh in order to combat any future challenge in maritime politics. Moreover, the US led Indo-Pacific Strategy is another way forward for US in Bangladesh for maritime politics which could strengthen US in this region. Bangladesh must be aware of the policies and the strategies imposed by the extra regional actors before joining them, proposed by any bloc in the region. As IPS is concerned, Bangladesh must think to ensure peace and the rule of law in the maritime region in order to reap the maximum economic benefits from the Bay of Bengal before joining it. Bangladesh needs to acquire natural resources as well as the ability to catch fish from the deep sea. If it is possible, it will open the way for Bangladesh to earn huge amount of foreign exchange just like fish and mineral garments. Hence, the Bangladesh’s top priority which is the economic ‘development’ could be acquired easily.