On the morning of July 30, 2024, the inauguration ceremony for the Bangladeshi Young Diplomats Delegation’s visit to China was grandly held at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). This delegation, consisting of 25 young officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, will embark on a 12-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing. Mr. Chen Dongxiao, President of SIIS and Chairman of the Academic Board of the Center for China Studies (CCS), and Professor Yang Jiemian, Chairman of SIIS Academic Affairs Council, attended the ceremony.

President Chen Dongxiao extended an enthusiastic welcome to the delegation. He noted that nowadays, the world is undergoing a period of profound changes and turbulence, characterized by intensifying geopolitical confrontations and geo-economic competition, together with accelerating technological revolution and green transformation. These present significant opportunities as well as daunting challenges for global governance and world modernization. SIIS is committed to its mission of providing a top-level platform for knowledge sharing and creation in global governance and world modernization by more closely integrating its roles as a think-tank and a do-tank. Our recent initiative, the Center for China Studies (CCS) represents the latest achievement in establishing a platform for knowledge sharing and creation between China and Bangladesh. The development of the CCS has received substantial attention and support from leaders of both countries and great support from the Central People’s Government and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. On July 9, 2024, during Prime Minister Hasina's official visit to China, China and Bangladesh jointly issued the Joint Statement between China and Bangladesh on the Establishment of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, which explicitly states that “The two sides support the Center for China Studies in fully playing its role, and support exchanges and dialogue between think tanks and scholars of the two sides.” President Chen encouraged the delegates to embrace a global perspective and strive for excellence. expressing his hope that they would witness first-hand China's changes, development, and progress, and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and systems. Both as developing countries and members of the Global South, China and Bangladesh share many major interests and concerns at bilateral, regional, and global multilateral levels, which creates enormous scope for cooperation. Both sides should reinforce cooperation, playing a crucial role in regional peace, development, and cooperation.

Ms. Marjan Begum, Head of the Bangladeshi Young Diplomats Delegation, stated that China-Bangladesh relations is full of vitality, and is built on mutual respect, equality & mutual benefit, and shared future. Bangladesh profoundly admires China's historic achievements as well as economic and social development over the past seven decades, while China will, as always, firmly support Bangladesh’s development, including its efforts to graduate from the UN list of Least Developed Countries by 2026 and achieve the Bangladesh Vision 2041. The partnership and cooperation between China and Bangladesh are founded on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and further fortified through the Belt and Road Initiative, ultimately upgrading their relations to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Nowadays, China and Bangladesh have carried out extensive interactions and cooperation in areas such as culture, media, education, tourism, and think tanks. Ms. Begum hopes that the visit to China will enrich the knowledge of delegates, deepen their understanding of China’s cultural, economic, and social development, and foster greater understanding between the peoples of both countries.

 

Professor Yang Jiemian, Chairman of SIIS Academic Affairs Council, delivered a lecture to the delegation titled China’s Worldview and Vision for Regional Cooperation. Professor Yang highlighted that China and Bangladesh share similar historical experiences and development history, and are both dedicated to achieving economic and social development goals. He noted that a country will achieve the goals of its national development strategy as long as it maintains social stability, unity among its people, and an enterprising spirit. As an extension of domestic politics, foreign policy is dependent on a country’s domestic development. Professor Yang shared China’s development experience and history, as well as the series of international and domestic challenges faced by the country. He underscored that the development of physical infrastructure in a country is not that challenging and may be achieved within one or two generations, whereas the development of soft power is different and entails a much longer time, as embodied in the saying “It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate people.” He stressed that a country’s development should not be measured solely by economic growth represented by GDP but should also by other indicators and factors comprehensively. Meanwhile, mutual learning and referencing is an imperative for development, just as the saying goes, “When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher,” rather than assuming superiority. China and Bangladesh have been supporting each other, advancing together, and achieving mutual success, implementing the true concept of Global Community of Shared Future. China’s diplomacy has also been striving to integrate its national interests with global interests, and proposed three major global initiatives, namely the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, with a view to realizing the Global Community of Shared Future for mankind. These three initiatives are interrelated rather than independent from each other: development is the foundation of security and civilization, security is the prerequisite for development and civilization, and civilization is the driving force for development and security. Professor Yang suggested that China and other developing countries should work together to implement these global initiatives. Furthermore, China hopes to drive cooperation between countries and address the shortcomings and failures of existing international mechanisms by means of regional cooperation.

 

The inauguration ceremony was hosted by Dr. Liu Zongyi, Director of the Center for South Asia Studies at SIIS and Director of the CCS. Its attendees also included Zhu Juhua, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at SIIS; Li Hongmei, Assistant Research Fellow of the Center for South Asian Studies at SIIS and Executive Director of the CCS; Tan Chenyi, Assistant Research Fellow of the Center for South Asian Studies at SIIS; Ruqi, Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh; and Morsedul Islam, Senior Political Researcher at the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh.

 

The delegation arrived in Shanghai on July 29. On the afternoon of the same day, Deputy Director Ye Liang of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government met with the delegation at the Foreign Affairs Office, and engaged in discussions with the delegates. Deputy Director Ye briefly introduced the functions of the Foreign Affairs Office and the basic situation of Shanghai, including the city’s achievements in the development of "Five Centers" (The financial center, trade center, innovation center, consumer center and globalization center that Shanghai is developing) in recent years. She shared Shanghai’s city spirit of “openness, innovation, and inclusiveness” with the delegation and expressed her great expectation for broader cooperation between Shanghai and Bangladesh in various fields such as cultural exchanges, economic & trade investment, and infrastructure construction. Ye was accompanied by Vice President of SIIS Li Kaisheng and Director of the Asia-Pacific Division of the Foreign Affairs Office Zhou Guorong to attend the meeting.