Key Points:
- Hasina had claimed that “a white man” had offered her a smooth return to power in exchange for an airbase.
- The Pentagon does not make billions of dollars of the military base on the whim and without congressional approval.
- Conspiracy theories like the U.S. and China are out there to oust Sheikh Hasina, and India is the saviour of the Hasina regime.
- St Martin Islands has strategic significance but could not prevent the Taiwan invasion by China.
- Bangladesh is the recipient of military aid and training assistance from the U.S.
- Bangladesh would have hugely benefited from a strategic alliance and free trade agreement with the U.S.
- Sheikh Hasina failed to take advantage of global power competition and was completely blindsided by Narendra Modi’s India.
- Bangladesh’s military missed the opportunity to receive billions of dollars of military aid from the U.S.
Did a white man ask ousted Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to hand over St Martins islands to the U.S.?
The short answer is that the Pentagon does not make billions of dollars of military base on the whim without congressional oversight. Sheikh Hasina has been well known for her pro-Indian stance and anti-Chinese and anti-American rhetoric for the past 16 years.
A letter, allegedly issued by former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and in the news over the weekend, reportedly attributed her ouster after 15 years in power to her refusal to cede control of St Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal to the United States.
“I could have remained in power if I had left St Martin’s and the Bay of Bengal to America,” Sheikh Hasina said.
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeed Wazeb refuted reports that claimed that she accused the United States of plotting a regime change in Bangladesh and stated that she would have addressed this in her speech if given the opportunity.
In a post on X, Wazed termed such reports as ‘Completely false and fabricated’.
“The recent resignation statement attributed to my mother published in a newspaper is completely false and fabricated. I have just confirmed with her that she did not make any statement either before or since leaving Dhaka”, he wrote on X.
A square kilometre stretch of land, St Martin’s Island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, has emerged as the focus point in the ongoing Bangladesh crisis that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government earlier this week.
The ousted former Bangladeshi prime minister claimed that she could have remained in power had she given away St Martin’s to the United States.
“I could have remained in power if I had left St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America,” she said in a message conveyed to her Awami League supporters.
This is not the first time that Hasina has claimed that she could stay in power by allowing Bangladesh to give up St. Martin’s Island to the United States.
Ahead of the elections in Bangladesh in January this year, Hasina had claimed that “a white man” had offered her a smooth return to power in exchange for an airbase.
Last year, while addressing a press conference in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, “I don’t want to return to power by leasing out St Martin’s Island.”
For several years, the rumours of Washington wanting to control the island have been doing the rounds in and beyond Dhaka’s corridors of power.
Notably, it is claimed that the U.S. intends to build an air base on the small island, located just eight kilometres from Myanmar.
Where is Saint Martin’s located?
St Martin’s Island, located in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, is a small coral island approximately nine kilometres south of the tip of Bangladesh’s southernmost peninsula, Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf, near Myanmar. It is Bangladesh’s sole coral island.
The island has a surface area of only three square kilometres. It is home to around 3,700 residents who primarily engage in fishing, rice cultivation, coconut farming, and seaweed harvesting, which is dried and exported to Myanmar.
The island received significant attention recently, with allegations that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, had planned to sell it to the U.S. to build a military base in exchange for help winning elections.
However, these claims were rejected by the U.S. State Department, which emphasised its commitment to respecting Bangladesh’s sovereignty and promoting democracy through free and fair elections.
History of Saint Martin’s Island
Due to the abundance of coconut trees there, the island is also known as ‘Narikel Jinjira’ or Coconut Island in Bengali. It is also known as ‘Daruchini Dwip’ or Cinnamon Island.
The island was once an extension of the Teknaf peninsula but was separated due to the submergence of a portion. However, this transformed the southernmost part of the peninsula into an island disconnected from the Bangladesh mainland.
The island has a rich history, dating back to the eighteenth century when it was first settled by Arabian merchants who named it ‘Jazira’. In 1900, a British land survey team included St Martin’s Island as part of British India and named it after a Christian priest called Saint Martin. However, there are reports that the island has been named after the then Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong, Mr Martin.
In 1937, the island remained a part of British India after Myanmar was separated. It remained so until the Partition of 1947 when it went into Pakistan’s control.
Later on, Bangladesh’s Daily Star reported that the coral island became a part of Bangladesh after the Liberation War of 1971. In 1974, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed that the coral Island would be a part of Bangladeshi territory.
Maritime boundary issue with Myanmar
Despite the 1974 agreement recognising St Martin’s Island as a Bangladeshi territory, there were issues over the delimitation of the island’s maritime boundary.
Bangladeshi fishermen often use their boats to the island, a central fishing hub, and face detentions and firing warnings from Myanmar’s naval forces.
To date, the island has not faced any questions about Bangladeshi ownership. But, it was the delimitation of the maritime boundary that threatened to spark a sovereignty war in the region, given its strategic location near the Bay of Bengal.
In 2012, in a landmark judgment, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) affirmed Bangladesh’s sovereignty over the coral island in a ruling that had significant implications for the country’s territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Rohingya influx into Bangladesh, Bangladesh military’s spectacular failure
A violent military crackdown by Myanmar forced over seven lakh Rohingyas, who are primarily Muslims, to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017. Thousands are camped in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp.
And with Cox’s Bazar located very close to St Martin’s Island, there are reports that members of the Arakan Army, an outfit banned by Myanmar, are trying to stake claim to the island, though Bangladesh has denied it repeatedly.
There have been sporadic incidents of firing of shots between Myanmar’s junta and the Arakan Army in the past few years. This has prompted the Bangladeshi Navy to deploy warships around St Martin’s Island.
Potential U.S. airbase at St Martin’s Island: What would it mean for the U.S. and Bangladesh?
A strategic oversight in and around the Strait of Malacca is the most significant advantage for a country with a military base at St. Martin’s. But, Bangladesh could have benefited from billions of dollars of military aid from the U.S., such as the transfer of fighter jets, missiles, and artillery. Strong cooperation with the U.S. could allow substandard Bangladeshi military to attain world-class training from the U.S.
The Chinese used this maritime region mainly for their transportation. Notably, the Chinese are building a port at Bangladesh’s Cox Bazaar. For any country other than China with a post at St. Martin’s, this would mean keeping an eye over Chinese investments in the Bay of Bengal, a former Indian ambassador with a deep understanding of the affairs of the Indian subcontinent told Global Defense Corp.
“Also, you can survey the trade in the region. That potential surveillance can be focused on what the Chinese are doing and others in the region,” the ambassador said.
Sheikh Hasina failed to take advantage of global power competition and was completely blindsided by Narendra Modi’s India.
Bangladesh’s strained ties with the U.S.
Relations between the U.S. and Bangladesh had nose-dived during Sheikh Hasina’s term, so much so that Washington had said the January elections in which the Awami League returned to power were not free or fair.
Months before her exit, Sheikh Hasina had claimed that “conspiracies” were being hatched to topple her government and alleged a “white man’s” plot to carve a new “Christian country” out of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” she had said in May.
Student protests
Amid student protests, violence erupted on August 5 after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to neighbouring India, where she is currently staying. The minorities, especially Hindus, have faced attacks in the Islamic nation after a violent uprising led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Over 1000 people have died since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of the country’s caretaker government.
The noted economist was recommended for the role by student protesters who led the protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which forced her to leave the country and brought down her Awami League government.
Yunus will be the chief adviser in the interim government tasked with holding fresh elections in Bangladesh.
U.S. Military Bases around the world
An October 2023 article published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Blue Marble publication reported that the U.S. maintains troops on every continent.
The report said that as of September 2022, 171,736 active-duty U.S. military troops are stationed across 178 countries.
Most of these overseas U.S. military personnel were deployed in just three countries, with 53,973 in Japan, 35,781 in Germany, and 25,372 in South Korea.
These three countries also housed the most U.S. military bases, with 120 in Japan, 119 in Germany, and 73 in South Korea.
The report said about 750 US military bases across at least 80 countries. However, according to one Al Jazeera report, the number of U.S. overseas military bases could be higher because not all the related data is published by the Pentagon.
Many of the U.S.’ overseas military bases were built after World War II, with Washington taking the peacekeeper position in and around Japan and Germany. This explains why these two countries have the most U.S. military bases. Subsequently, the Korean War and Cold War gave the U.S. further reason for global military expansion to contain communism.
In the following decades, the U.S. expanded its military presence to the Middle East and the surrounding area. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Kuwait each have at least 10 U.S. bases.
The U.S. taxpayer and Washington’s mammoth defence budget underwrite the U.S.’ global military presence. In 2022, the U.S. spent $877 billion on its military — the most of any country and more than China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Germany, France, South Korea, and Japan combined.
Saint Martin’s geopolitical significance
St Martin’s Island has dominated Bangladesh politics since the country came into existence in 1971. Its proximity to the Bay of Bengal and the maritime boundary with Myanmar has led to international interest in using the island to strengthen its presence in the region, particularly from the U.S. and China.
In June last year, Sheikh Hasina alleged that the U.S. had intended to acquire St Martin’s Island and build a military base in exchange for the BNP’s victory in elections. She also claimed that the BNP, if voted to power, would sell the island to the U.S.
Hasina asserted that her government would remain in power even if St Martin’s Island were leased out, but said she would never allow such a step till she was in office.
“The BNP came to power in 2001 by pledging to sell gas. Now they want to sell the country. They want to come to power by pledging to sell St Martin’s Island. I have no intention to go to power by selling the country’s assets,” said Sheikh Hasina, as quoted by the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo.
Her allegations drew a flat rebuttal from U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, who called them “not accurate” and said that “no discussions” on taking over the island were discussed with the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
“We have never talked about taking over St Martin’s Island. We value our partnership with Bangladesh. We strive to bolster our relationship by working together to promote democracy, including by supporting free and fair elections,” he said.
Bangladesh’s claims of St Martin’s Island being taken over by the U.S. came following unconfirmed reports that the U.S. was unhappy with Dhaka cosying up to China and wanted to take counter steps to diminish Beijing’s influence in South Asia.
It also came at a time when China was locked in several territorial disputes with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea, another strategic location like the Bay of Bengal.
U.S. official position on Indo-Pacific command
The U.S. wants to strengthen alliances and partnerships with all Indo-Pacific nations. There has been bipartisan agreement in the U.S. Congress for a free and open Indo-Pacific. The U.S. always wanted a rule-based Indo-Pacific and urged all countries to respect sovereign boundaries.
Congress continues to play an active and essential role in Indo-Pacific security matters. The Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), created by the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; P.L. 116-283, §1251) is just one example of congressional involvement in regional security efforts. The February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and its present and future implications for European and Indo-Pacific security will likely increase both congressional interest and action in the near term and for the foreseeable future.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is asking Congress for $11 billion more than the White House’s fiscal 2025 defense budget request, an amount that is three times greater than the wish list it submitted last year.
Much of the money requested in the annual list, obtained by Defense News, would go toward constructing infrastructure to host U.S. forces in the region, classified space programs, munitions and Guam defences. The U.S. aims to bolster its presence in the area to deter China.
This budgetary paper does not include Saint Martin’s Island or any other military base. The Pentagon does not build military bases worldwide without the permission of Congress and the White House.
Indo-Pacific Command’s request to beef up military construction in the region comes after Congress recently renewed assistance to the Pacific island nations of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, which in return provide military access for U.S. forces.
The unfunded priorities list requests another $40 million for the Navy, specifically for activities in Micronesia to integrate “posture plans, military construction projects, land use negotiations and other joint support activities.”
Meanwhile, the Philippines is expected to begin work on numerous base upgrades this year after its recent agreement to enhance basing cooperation with the United States.
The military combatant commands and services are legally required to submit unfunded priorities lists to Congress annually.
Sheikh Hasina’s claims that a ‘white man’ asked her to sell Saint Martin Island to the U.S. is just a conspiracy theory and her hatred towards the U.S.
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