Foreign policy is ultimately not an accounting exercise in who loves us. It is about identifying where interests converge, where they conflict, what each relationship can deliver, what risks it creates, and how those relationships can be converted into bargaining power for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh does not need an India-first, China-first, Russia-first or West-first foreign policy. It needs a Bangladesh-first foreign policy. And perhaps the simplest test of such a policy is this: Which choice leaves the country with more doors open?
The moment may have arrived for Dhaka to turn India’s need for regional legitimacy into an opportunity to reset the relationship on a more balanced and multi-lateral footing.
If the chair simply remains empty, the summit proceeds, other states advance their interests, India absorbs the symbolism without changing its behaviour, and Bangladesh returns home with little more than domestic applause, then it was not leverage. It was an opportunity lost.
