Bangladesh's St. Martin Island: What a potential US airbase could mean for region
File photo of former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina at St. Martin's Island
A three square kilometre stretch of land, St Martin's Island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, has emerged as the point of focus in the ongoing Bangladesh crisis that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government earlier this week.
The ousted former Bangladeshi prime minister claimed that she could have remained in power had she given away St Martin's to the United States.
Also read |Sheikh Hasina blames US for ouster as PM, cites her refusal to surrender St. Martin Island as cause
"I could have remained in power if I had left St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America," she said in a message conveyed to her Awami League supporters.
This is not the first time that Hasina has claimed that she could stay in power by allowing Bangladesh to give up St. Martin's Island to the United States.
Ahead of the elections in Bangladesh in January this year, Hasina had claimed that "a white man" had offered her a smooth return to power in exchange for an airbase.
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Also watch |Bangladesh unrest: Will normalcy return to Bangladesh?
Last year, while addressing a press conference in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, "I don’t want to return to power by leasing out St Martin’s Island."
For several years, the rumours of Washington wanting to control the island have been doing the rounds in and beyond Dhaka's corridors of power.
Notably, it is claimed that the US intends to build an air base on the small island, located just eight kilometres from Myanmar.
Potential US airbase at St Martin's Island: What would it mean?
The biggest advantage for a country with a military base at St. Martin's would be a strategic oversight in and around the Strait of Malacca.
The Chinese use this maritime region mainly for their transportation.
Notably, the Chinese are building a port at Bangladesh's Cox Bazaar. For any country other than China with a post at St. Martin's, this would mean keeping an eye over Chinese investments in the Bay of Bengal, a former Indian ambassador with a deep understanding of the affairs of the Indian subcontinent told WION.
"Also you can surveil the trade in the region. That potential surveillance can befocused not just about what Chinese are doing but also on others in the region," the ambassador said.