Bangladesh seems to be at the crossroads of great power rivalry without realising it, and its two top leaders seem to be steering the nation in two different directions, which could place great strain on that emerging nation.

Prof Mohammed Yunus, the chief advisor of the interim government, perhaps rattled by the emergence of the Trump administration and its denouncement of the alleged deep state funding for a regime change in Bangladesh, as well as its attacks on Dhaka’s human rights record, tried to embrace China by cancelling a traditional parade on Bangladesh’s Independence Day on March 26 to fly to Hainan and Beijing.

Over the years, China has become Bangladesh’s largest arms supplier and has built a mega submarine and naval base near Chittagong, which, by all accounts, is too big for the tiny navy of that Asian nation.

On the same day, when Chinese officials were feting Yunus, the power behind his throne, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, who heads Bangladesh’s army, was playing host to the deputy commander in chief of the US Indo-Pacific command and talking of replacing Beijing’s weapons with American ones.

Zaman had earlier, in a public speech, taken an independent stance from Yunus, warning politicians of fomenting trouble, which could endanger the country’s sovereignty. Rumours, which were denied officially by the Bangladesh government, had it that he had placed generals sympathetic to extremist radicals under surveillance.

Many feel that if indeed the US deep state under the Biden........

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