Move aside the ample supplies of the famed ‘hilsa’ fish to India, the flavour of the Dhaka summer is the abundant and juicy mangoes and jackfruit that would soon travel to China.
#LATEST 🇨🇳Chinese President Xi Jinping met with 🇧🇩Bangladeshi interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in Beijing.
— Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) March 28, 2025
Xi gives red carpet to Prof. Yunus at the Great Hall of the People. #China #BangladeshL pic.twitter.com/8gBJY86qYp
These two fruits came up in the talks between Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing when they met in Beijing on Friday.
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus joined the meeting with Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China in People's Great Hall, Beijing on Friday. pic.twitter.com/qxKoGAF6IU
— Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh (@ChiefAdviserGoB) March 28, 2025
Declaring the Xi-Yunus meeting as ‘hugely successful’, Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary in the Chief Advisor’s office, posted on his Facebook page: “He (President Xi) said he tried Bangladeshi mangoes and jackfruit and found them delicious. Bangladesh is expected to export the two fruits to China in a big way in coming months.”
On the other hand, the issue of exporting ‘hilsa’ to India has been a heated topic in Bangladesh. Bowing to public demand, the Yunus-led interim government had banned the export of ‘hilsa’ to India before revoking the ban again.
On more serious matters of state, Alam wrote of the meeting where Xi committed “to encourage Chinese investment and relocation of Chinese manufacturing enterprises to Bangladesh.”
Alam added China would give positive consideration to a host of important issues including the reduction of the interest rates on Chinese loans and cooperation on water resources management.
Dhaka has been seeking a reduction in interest rates on Chinese loans from 3 per cent to 1-2 per cent. China, besides being Bangladesh’s fourth biggest trade partner, has increased investment in Bangladesh about 11-fold between 2011 and 2019.
This is Yunus’ first foreign visit after assuming office in August 2024.
In a sudden development on August 5, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted after mass public protests in Dhaka. She fled to New Delhi where she is believed to be now based.
India’s refuge to Hasina is evidently a big thorn in India-Bangladesh relations with the issue cropping up every now and then with Dhaka trying to get her extradited to Bangladesh and be tried for purported ‘crimes’.
A few days earlier, Alam is reported to have said Yunus wanted to travel to India before his Beijing visit but then the request did not receive a “positive” response from New Delhi.
It is believed that while Yunus enjoyed a good rapport with the former President Joe Biden government in the US, the same could not be said for his relations with President Donald Trump, especially in the backdrop of Trump making the “right noises” about US-India ties during the course of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the US.
Bangladesh is therefore on the lookout for friends and allies that would stand up for it when the times become tough. China fits the bill.
