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US has concerns
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President Joe Biden’s strong policy on human rights.
Following repeated requests from Bangladesh for lifting the sanctions, Haas recently said they want “concrete steps” by the government.
“It is not really the question of providing a list of things that must be accomplished. It is about those two principles [accountability and reforms in Rab] that need to be held in order for those who have been sanctioned to request relief from the US,” the diplomat said yesterday.
Haas said the US gives utmost importance to holding free, fair and transparent election in Bangladesh in line with the international standards. He said freedom of press, lack of violence and the Election Commission’s capacity of overseeing are some of the important factors for holding a fair election.
“This is a job of the Bangladesh government, people, media and the civil society to create conditions for a free and fair election,” he said, adding it is important to remain vigilant as people are already talking about elections.
The envoy said he has raised concerns with the Bangladesh authorities publicly and privately when it comes to democracy and human rights, especially extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, press freedom, especially the Digital Security Act, and several draft laws and regulations that could inhibit press freedom.
The US also has concerns about insufficient labour rights and poor working conditions that cost Bangladesh access to the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) in 2013, while Bangladesh is also missing out on investment capital from the US International Development Finance Corporation.
“As Bangladesh is going to become a middle-income country, it is important for Bangladesh to protect labour rights, freedom to association and forming unions,” Haas said.
He said he has discussed with the foreign ministry for creating a catalogue on the outstanding issues between the two countries so that they can work more effectively to address those.
Recently, the US has announced formation of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) with 12 countries. Haas said the IPEF is designed to take into account what the 21st century economic landscape would look like.
The various aspects of IPEF are: making supply chain resilient, digital trade and emerging technologies, clean energy and decarbonisation and preventing corruption, which are quite important for Bangladesh. As its membership expands, the diplomat expressed optimism that Bangladesh will consider joining it.
Asked if Bangladesh was at any risk of falling into a debt trap like Sri Lanka did, Haas said Bangladesh has a strong macro-economic management and a substantial foreign currency reserve. It is also careful about borrowing from international financers.
The amount of foreign debt to China is relatively small, but it is bigger to the ADB, the World Bank and Japan, the diplomat said, adding that the situation in Bangladesh will not be like that of Sri Lanka, though it has other challenges including high inflation amid supply chain disruptions following the war in Ukraine.
Enquired if the US would recognise the genocide committed in Bangladesh in 1971 when the country supported then West Pakistan, Haas said Bangladesh witnessed terrible atrocities and that there was considerable amount of death. However, the question of determining genocide under the related US law is a very difficult legal question, he added.
The envoy said Bangladesh faces some daunting challenges, including tackling the Rohingya crisis and climate change.
He said since 1972, the US provided $8 billion to Bangladesh as assistance and it continues to invest around $200 million each year in development programmes.
“I believe that in the last 50 years, Bangladesh has had no better friend than the United States. And that it will have no better friend over the next 50 years.”

China sends 30 warplanes into Taiwan air defence zone
AFP, Taipei
China has made the second largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said late Monday it had scrambled its own aircraft and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activity.
In recent years, Beijing has begun sending large sorties into Taiwan’s defence zone to signal dissatisfaction, and to keep Taipei’s ageing fighter fleet regularly stressed.
Self-ruled democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
Monday’s incursion was the largest since January 23, when 39 planes entered the air defence identification zone, or ADIZ.
The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China’s own air defence identification zone and even includes some of the mainland.
A flight map provided by the Taiwanese defence ministry showed the planes entering the southwestern corner of the ADIZ before looping back out again.
The United States last week accused Beijing of raising tensions over the island, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically mentioning aircraft incursions as an example of “increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity”.
Blinken’s remarks came after US President Joe Biden appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question on a visit to Japan, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by China.
But the White House has since insisted its policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether or not it would intervene has not changed.
There is growing bipartisan discussion in Washington over whether to switch to “strategic clarity” given Beijing’s increasingly aggressive approach to cross-strait relations, epitomised by the air incursions.
US senators have made multiple trips to the island in a show of support -- a group led by Republican Lindsey Graham visited in April, and Democrat Tammy Duckworth landed in Taipei on Monday.
Duckworth was one of the main sponsors of the Taiwan Partnership Act, which aims to deepen security ties between Taipei and Washington. It has yet to be voted on or become law.
But after a meeting with Duckworth yesterday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen suggested that some form of link-up was already happening.
“As a result (of the Act), the US Department of Defence is now actively planning cooperation between the National Guard and Taiwan’s defence forces,” Tsai said in a statement, without explaining further.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its ADIZ, according to an AFP database -- more than double the roughly 380 carried out in 2020.
The most number of aircraft China has sent in a single day was 56 on October 4, 2021.
That month saw a record 196 incursions, mostly around China’s annual national day celebrations.
So far in 2022 Taiwan has reported 465 incursions, a near 50 percent increase on the same period last year.
The sheer number of sorties has put the air force under immense pressure, and it has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years.
Yesterday, local media reported that a pilot had died after crashing a trainer jet in southern Kaohsiung.
It is not the first deadly crash this year -- in January one of Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jets, an F-16V, plunged into the sea.
Last March, Taiwan grounded all military aircraft after a pilot was killed and another went missing when their fighters collided mid-air in the third fatal crash in less than six months.