US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu has recently been mentioned frequently in the media while talking about US relations with South Asian nations. This time his visit to Dhaka has generated a buzz in the diplomatic community against the backdrop of unease in Bangladesh-US relations. According to a diplomatic source, he will come to Bangladesh on January 14 to talk about a number of important topics, including trade, business, and collaboration in the areas of security and human rights.
US Ambassador to Dhaka Peter Haas unexpectedly visited the residence of a controversial leader of a political organization in Shaheenbagh, Dhaka, on December 14. Soon after his arrival, a group called Mayer Kanna attempted to deliver a memo to him, which forced the US ambassador to depart that area in an awkward scenario. Donald Lu brought up the security issue of the US Ambassador to Bangladesh at that time with the Bangladesh Ambassador in Washington. Lu’s trip to Dhaka is particularly relevant from that perspective.
Who is Donald Lu?: Donald Lu is the main driver of US foreign policy regarding South and Central Asia. He is a foreign service officer with more than 30 years of US government service. During his long diplomatic career, he has served as a political officer in the Peshawar Consulate of Pakistan, a consular officer in Tbilisi, Georgia, and a special assistant and political officer to the ambassador in New Delhi, India. A former US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and Albania, he has also served as deputy chief of mission in the US embassy in New Delhi from 2010 to 2013. Lu became assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs in the Biden administration in September 2021.
Lu’s role in South Asia: When Nepal was dragging its feet on ratifying the US-led controversial Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact for the last few years, Lu had warned Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba that there could be “cuts in US aid and assistance” and that the USA could deny support and investment that Nepal is receiving from various bilateral and multilateral agencies if the MCC compact was not ratified. Lu had conveyed the same warning to CPN-UML chairman K.P. Sharma Oli and Maoist Center chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda. This was the first strong message to the Nepali political leadership from Washington since Nepal and the USA established diplomatic relations in 1947.
Given Lu’s unfavorable reputation in the region, his visit to Bangladesh offers him a second chance to demonstrate that promoting regime change in the region is not his assigned task. Instead, it is his duty to maintain cordial relations with countries. The misperception that he was the mastermind behind the region’s regime changes can be dispelled if he plays a constructive role in enhancing US-Bangladesh relations.
Lu has visited Nepal twice since the beginning of the political impasse that started with the dissolution of the parliament in mid-2021. Amidst the political upheaval and in an election atmosphere, he met then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Narayan Kharka in November. Within three months of this visit, the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Project, the largest in the history of Nepal, which has been stalled since 2012, received the approval of the Nepali Parliament.
It is no longer a secret that the USA and India see the Ukraine crisis differently. After the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February, the West imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow. Despite this, India maintains trade relations with Russia by purchasing oil there. Lu visited India in September 2022, where he led the US delegation that participated in the Two Plus Two meeting with the partner countries of the Quad Alliance. After that, in October last year, Lu visited Sri Lanka, which was devastated by the economic and political crisis, and offered full support to the Ranil Wickremesinghe government.
However, Lu’s name has been discussed the most after the ouster of Imran Khan in Pakistan. Mr Khan accused Lu of conspiring to oust him. Khan even suggested in an interview with CNN that Lu be fired for interfering with Pakistan’s domestic politics and for “bad manners and sheer arrogance.” Furthermore, Pakistan’s National Security Council (NSC) issued a “strong demarche” over the “threat letter,” terming it “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.”
Undeniably, given South Asia’s growing strategic significance for the USA, it has taken aggressive or proactive diplomacy to get governments in the region to toe their line. But, these forms of coercive diplomacy may cause “anti-Americanism” to spread in South Asian countries, which may harm the USA’s long-standing relations with them.
Bangladesh case and message to Lu: In the shifting global environment, a closer relationship is in both countries’ best interests. Bangladesh believes in the USA’s free and open Indo-Pacific strategy and is looking into the “pros and cons” of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to determine if the country will benefit from joining it. Bangladesh made it clear that, if it is in Bangladesh’s best interests, it will join the US-led Indo-Pacific Business Forum. The USA should extend its hand of friendship to Bangladesh as a major partner in this undertaking.
Since the inception of diplomatic ties, bilateral relations between the two countries have come a long way and improved to a great extent. Washington and Dhaka have extensive cooperation in regional and global security, counterterrorism, and climate change. With regard to trade, education, travel, investments, and other areas, it goes without saying that Bangladesh has closer ties with and more communication with the USA.
Chinese influence in Bangladesh must not be a cause for concern for the USA. Because Dhaka is skillfully balancing relations with major nations, especially China, and is aware of and sensitive to US concerns in the region, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has openly said that Bangladesh has no military aspirations and sees China as a development partner.
It is illogical for Bangladesh to get involved in any power struggles, given geopolitical calculations and high development goals. Dhaka could become a pawn in a global confrontation if it participates in any geopolitical rivalries. Bangladesh thus upholds its foreign policy guiding concept of “friendship to all and malice to none” and supports peaceful coexistence in the area.
Given Lu’s unfavorable reputation in the region, his visit to Bangladesh offers him a second chance to demonstrate that promoting regime change in the region is not his assigned task. Instead, it is his duty to maintain cordial relations with countries. The misperception that he was the mastermind behind the region’s regime changeS can be dispelled if he plays a constructive role in enhancing US-Bangladesh relations.
