String Of Pearls Tightens: How Bangladesh’s U-Turn On Mongla Port Hits India’s 'Act East' Policy | Exclusive

Last Updated:June 27, 2026, 19:25 IST

The strategic facility will now be constructed and managed by China’s state-owned Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCCC)

India’s eastern security architecture and regional border diplomacy have suffered a massive strategic setback following an abrupt geopolitical shift by Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman-led government. In a major policy reversal, Dhaka has decided to hand over the prestigious Mongla Port development project to China, effectively revoking an assignment originally allocated to India in 2015. The strategic facility will now be constructed and managed by China’s state-owned Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCCC), a development that directly challenges New Delhi’s long-standing influence in the Bay of Bengal and signals a deep freeze in bilateral ties.

The handover carries immense security implications for the Indian defence establishment, primarily due to Mongla Port’s critical geographic location, situated just 80 kilometres from the Indian border. Top Indian intelligence sources have raised urgent red flags regarding the high risk of Beijing installing advanced maritime surveillance systems and electronic intelligence infrastructure at the site. Given its proximity, a Chinese-controlled deep-sea asset enables the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to actively monitor Indian naval deployments, coastal radar networks, and strategic movements around the Kolkata and Haldia ports, potentially turning the commercial facility into a hostile intelligence-gathering hub.

Economic Decoupling and the String of Pearls

Dhaka’s maritime realignment is part of a broader, deliberate blueprint by the Rahman administration to systemically reduce Bangladesh’s economic dependence on Indian transit networks. By upgrading Mongla in partnership with Beijing, Bangladesh aims to bypass Indian maritime facilities like the Kolkata Port, shifting its trade trajectories toward Chinese-backed shipping corridors. To further cement this alliance, the Tarique Rahman government has approved the creation of a massive 110-acre industrial economic zone in the Mongla region to be developed exclusively with Chinese corporate partnerships, while simultaneously expanding Beijing’s soft power by initiating plans to introduce Mandarin into the domestic school curriculum.

For New Delhi, this development effectively derails a cornerstone of its “Act East" policy, which viewed access to Mongla as a vital conduit to boost economic connectivity, lower logistics costs, and enhance trade with India’s landlocked Northeast states and Southeast Asian partners like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The loss of this developmental leverage severely disrupts India’s regional integration plans, leaving its multi-modal transit initiatives exposed to aggressive competing infrastructure.

Long-Term Strategic Encirclement

The maritime loss is compounded by a flurry of other major geopolitical manoeuvres by Beijing along India’s eastern periphery. Armed with Dhaka’s compliance, China is aggressively pushing forward with the construction of a controversial mega-dam project on the Teesta River, a highly sensitive transboundary water system. Simultaneously, Beijing is fast-tracking the China-Bangladesh-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CBMEC), creating a continuous belt of Chinese-funded infrastructure that wraps around India’s eastern frontier.

Ultimately, the Bangladesh government’s actions highlight a rapid and coordinated effort to replace Indian partnerships with Chinese capital and security ties. By granting Beijing a sovereign foothold just miles from the Indian border and securing immense leverage over vital river systems, the shifting dynamic in Dhaka has turned India’s long-feared “String of Pearls" encirclement strategy into an immediate, high-stakes national security challenge on its eastern flank.

About the Author

Manoj Gupta

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

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