Overview
- Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman raised the Teesta restoration plan with China’s Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, formalizing Dhaka’s request for support.
- Rahman had said before the trip that Bangladesh cannot just sit and wait for a water-sharing deal with India and that the Teesta plan would be on the table in Beijing.
- China said it is ready to align Belt and Road cooperation with Bangladesh’s priorities and to encourage Chinese firms to invest, while stressing the ties do not target any third country.
- The push for Chinese help could strain relations with India because the project sits near the sensitive Siliguri Corridor and follows Delhi’s 2024 offer of technical support for the Teesta basin.
- The Teesta underpins irrigation for five northern districts where most crops need pumped water, a pressure that sharpened after a 2011 India–Bangladesh sharing plan stalled over opposition in West Bengal.