Mango deal sweetens ties between Bangladesh, China

DHAKA: Bangladesh waved off its first consignment of mangoes to China on Wednesday, a largely symbolic export as Beijing sweetens ties after relations soured between Dhaka and former ally and neighbour India.

Bangladesh, still reeling from the political fallout of a 2024 uprising that ended the autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina -- who fled by helicopter to New Delhi -- has since been courted by Beijing.

“It is such a great pleasure to jointly witness this historic moment, as the first consignment of Bangladesh’s premium mangoes sets off for China,” China’s ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen said, alongside government officials.

Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy.

Interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus’s first state visit was to China, while Bangladesh has also moved closer to Pakistan.

“President Xi Jinping has emphasised on several occasions that China’s door of opening up will not close, but will only open wider,” Yao said, at a small ceremony at the airport alongside Bangladeshi ministers.

“I am confident that the export of Bangladeshi mangoes to China is just the beginning,” he added.

In China, the fruit has a particular historic diplomatic resonance -- including the curious cult of the mango.

After Chairman Mao Zedong was pictured gifting a mango to a group of workers in 1968, during the mania of the Cultural Revolution, the fruit became an object of veneration.

Those mangoes were reportedly a gift from the foreign minister of Pakistan -- and at that time, in 1968, Bangladesh had yet to win its independence from Islamabad.

Export levels are small so far, just 50 tonnes in an initial phase, but both Bangladesh and China said they hoped to increase that.

In the past year, China has sponsored several tours for Dhaka’s political party leaders, and has begun hosting Bangladeshi patients in its hospitals.

India has long been wary of China’s growing regional clout and the world’s two most populous countries compete for influence in South Asia, despite a recent diplomatic thaw.