Bangladesh's participation in the US-Japan-India-Australia Strategic Alliance Quad will hurt Dhaka-Beijing relations, said Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming.
He made the remarks when asked about the recent visit of the Chinese Defense Minister to Dhaka at an event organized by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association on Monday (May 10).
In the last week of last month, Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghi visited Dhaka. At that time, China wanted Bangladesh's cooperation on Quad and IPS issues.
Asked what Bangladesh said in response to China's request, the Chinese ambassador avoided answering the question.
Li Jimming said China has always thought that the US-led Quad is a small anti-China group. I want to make it very clear that there is a security element to the economic proposal. In tune with the United States, Japan is also speaking out against China.
Alerting Bangladesh to participate in the Quad, the Chinese ambassador said, "In this context, I would say that the idea of joining such a small group or club is not good." If Bangladesh joins it, it will make our bilateral relations worse enough.