China Hosts First Trilateral Meeting With Pakistan And Bangladesh, Seeking To Isolate India In Its Own Neighborhood

On June 19, 2025, China hosted its first trilateral meeting with Bangladesh and Pakistan, which was aimed at enhancing trilateral cooperation in trade, investment, health, education, and maritime affairs between the three countries, but also revealing its intent to isolate India in its own neighborhood. The meeting was held in Kunming in Yunnan province of China.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, Pakistani Additional Secretary (Asia Pacific) Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, and Bangladeshi acting foreign secretary Ruhul Alam Siddique attended the meeting. Amna Baloch, who is the Pakistani foreign secretary, an official who reports to the foreign minister, participated in the first phase of the meeting via a video link.

According to a report in the Indian media outlet Economic Times, Pakistan is strengthening its ties with Bangladesh under the interim administration headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus by not only seeking to firm up defense partnership but also to push trade and investment ties.[1] “Since last November [2024], the Chittagong Port has received two ships carrying commercial items from Pakistan and there are attempts to scuttle India’s access to the port,” the report read.[2]

Before August 2024, when Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India amid protests, it was not possible for Pakistan to build relations with Bangladesh, the Bangla-speaking eastern region that split from Pakistan in the 1971 War.

Although the trilateral forum launched by China appears harmless, it may have strategic implications for India’s foreign policy in the region. “The use of trilaterals underscores China’s fresh attempts at making Pakistan a stakeholder in the region and keeping New Delhi preoccupied with immediate concerns,” foreign policy experts Harsh V. Pant and Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy wrote recently.[3]

In a joint article, the two experts noted that before the regime changes in Afghanistan in August 2021 and in Bangladesh in August 2024, “both countries were staunch supporters of India’s fight against both Pakistan and its state-sponsored terrorism. With the change in regimes, however, Pakistan and China have attempted to draw both countries [Afghanistan and Bangladesh] closer to their orbit.”[4]

While India has built its relationship with the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan recently, China has sought to counter India’s influence by hosting another trilateral meet with Pakistan and Afghanistan. On May 21, a month before the trilateral meet involving Bangladesh, Beijing hosted a trilateral meeting attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, and Afghan acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.[5]

An Indian media report noted: “China’s role as convenor of this trilateral format also signals Beijing’s intent to reshape regional order through alternative multilateral formats to counterbalance India’s influence in the region and advance its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and regional influence with more flexible, cooperative frameworks.”[6]

Commenting on India’s isolation amid the trilateral platforms launched by China, Harsh V. Pant and Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy observed: “The developments in the region demonstrate, once again, that China, and not Pakistan, is India’s biggest challenge. With both Pakistan and China confronting a confident India, China sees an opportunity to challenge India through the trilateral nexus. At a time when India is seeking support from South Asian countries to fight terrorism, Chinese efforts will create new setbacks.

“South Asian countries will thus have to learn to balance between India and China, as Beijing uses Islamabad to create new complexities in the region. On its part, Delhi will have to continue to express redlines and convey the point that any misadventures by its neighbors could have severe economic, military, and political costs.”[7]

[1] EconomicTimes.com (India), June 21, 2025.

[2] EconomicTimes.com (India), June 21, 2025.

[3] TheHindu.com (India), June 28, 2025.

[4] TheHindu.com (India), June 28, 2025.

[5] Aljazeera.com (Qatar), May 23, 2025.

[6] Theprint.com (India), May 21, 2025.

[7] TheHindu.com (India), June 28, 2025.