I believe that it was the China card which brought President Bush all the way to India a couple of years ago. Although the president and the secretary of state talked all those ornamental talks like relationship between two great democracies, great market opportunities etc, I still believe that the move was a strategic one and was prompted by the China issue.
   I believe, China’s growing economic and military strength has become a threat to the new world order dominated by the USA and its western allies. Although China’s past record does not show any visible sign of threat, except a few to Taiwan, China may still be considered as an evolving threat. With its excellent military and economic growth, China has almost reached that point from where it can blackmail the West, if it wants to.
   During the past Cold War era, India was an ally of the USSR and Pakistan was being used by the USA as a checkpoint in the frontier. Pakistan was also being used as a medium to maintain a soft relationship with an adolescent China. At the end of the Cold War era, after the demise of the USSR, Pakistan lost its strategic importance except in those sword fights with bin-Laden and others.
   The English-speaking India’s contribution to the Western economies is big and crucial. Sectors like industries, education and science in the USA benefited enormously from Indian brain drain. But this was not the case with China. China could only take but not give. May be cultural and linguistic barriers governed this behavioural pattern. In a nutshell, India is definitely a good choice for the USA to take as a new strategic partner.
   The robust Indian economy, coupled with the advancement in technology, will take India to a new horizon. Now, my question is: in which world are Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, the neighbours of India, living?
   M Khan
   On e-mail

The economic downturn precipitated in the USA and now spreading all over the world provides Bangladesh an opportunity for national capital investment. Dollar and other foreign currencies are cheaper, prices of manufactured goods are falling, interest on foreign funds are falling. All this will naturally reduce the price of capital machinery and equipment.
   Now is the right time for Bangladesh to make the much needed national capital investments for developing our energy and communication sectors. We should now take the opportunity of installing one or two coal-fired power plants, preferably from the USA. Also rapidly go for coal mining and gas exploration, both on land and off-shore. Negotiations can now be favourable for us to drive an advantageous bargain! The US and European economy will not remain depressed like this for long; it may return to normal in the next two or three years. This is our time to invest and it is NOW!
   Opportunity should also not be missed for the rehabilitation and addition to assets of the railways, mostly locomotives and carriages, wagons and railway rails. We may even go for converting diesel locomotives to diesel-gas (dual-fuel) operation, now being developed in the USA.
   We should also go for technical collaboration for the manufacture of thin film, window glass panes, particularly for high-rise buildings, to rapidly expand pollution-free solar power resources in the urban areas. It has already been introduced in the USA by a company in California. Our government should take urgent steps, starting NOW so that we can take advantage of this very favourable financial outlook. Such times may not come again in decades.
   SA Mansoor
   Dhaka