China will be the first country the Bangladesh Army chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, will visit by the end of June this year after making it clear to the Mohammad Yunus-led interim regime that there should be no “humanitarian corridor” to Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
While the details of his forthcoming visit to China are being worked out by different directorates within the Army, it is learnt that the Gen Zaman’s trip to Beijing will take place following a formal invitation from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Gen Zaman’s visit is aimed at greater defence hardware acquisitions from China, which has traditionally been the principal supplier of weapons and air assets to the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladesh Air Force. For this reason, the Bangladesh Army’s Directorate of Weaponry and Systems (DWE&S) is coordinating with other directorates on the visit.
Representatives of the directorates of Infantry, Army Aviation, Artillery, Signals, Ordnance, Engineers, Armoured, Military Operations, Military Operations, Military Intelligence and Military Training will meet at the DWE&S conference room to chalk out the details of Gen Zaman’s visit.
On May 13, Bangladesh Army’s Master General of Ordinance Branch Major General Abu Bakar Siddique Khan and other senior officers met a four-member team of executives of China Vanguard Co Ltd to discuss plans to acquire HQ-17AE surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), JSG radars and FK-3 medium-range-surface-to-air missiles (MSAMs).
It could not be confirmed whether Gen Zaman will sign agreements on the acquisition of the SAM and MSAM and JSG radars. Sources said that he will meet senior PLA officers and discuss avenues for greater defence cooperation between China and Bangladesh.
Exactly a year ago, Bangladesh and China held their first-ever joint military exercise ‘Golden Friendship-2024’, which aimed to fine-tune peacekeeping and counter-terrorism operations and involved mixed groups training on scenarios like anti-hijacking and camp elimination.
There were reports last year that China transferred various military technologies to Bangladesh, which is said to have started an initiative to build a domestic defence industrial base.
So far, Beijing’s technology transfer has been to the Bangladesh Ordnance Factories and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Ltd for small and medium-sized weapons such as rifles, rocket launchers, MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defence Systems), and light utility vehicles.
In October 2024, the PLA sent two warships to the Chittagong port for a goodwill visit. However, China delivered to the Bangladesh Navy two Type 035G Ming-class diesel-electric submarines in 2016.
These submarines, originally commissioned by the Chinese Navy, were upgraded and retrofitted – at Dalian Liaoning South Shipyard – before being transferred to Bangladesh. The submarines, commissioned as BNS Nabajatra and BNS Joyjatra on March 12, 2017, are now based at Pekua, which is about 68 km south of Chittagong.
ALSO READ: ‘No bloody corridor,’ Bangladesh Army chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman cautions Yunus-led interim govt
More recently, Bangladesh Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus’ March 2025 visit to China and his offer to his hosts to develop an old airbase at Lalmonirhat raised eyebrows in New Delhi. The Bangladesh Air Force is reportedly interested in procuring the China-made J-10C fighter aircraft or the JF-17 variant, though its senior management may not be averse to the Eurofighter that is manufactured by a consortium of European companies.
