US envoy in Bangladesh raises concerns over ‘broader Chinese influence’ in South Asia

The United States ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T Christensen, said on Wednesday in Dhaka that he was concerned about ‘broader Chinese influence’ in the South Asia.

Addressing his maiden press conference in the city, the new US envoy said that his government wanted to work together with Bangladesh for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries.

‘You know, as I said in my hearing…I am concerned about broader Chinese influence in South Asia. I think the United States government has been very clear about that,’ Christensen said, responding to a question regarding geopolitics and Chinese influence in the region.

He said that he had  committed in his Senate hearing that he would always engage with their friends in the government — be it the interim government or the new elected government — to clearly articulate the risks of involvement with the Chinese in certain areas should the Bangladesh government choose to go down that path.

The US envoy said that they had a host of options available to try to help their partner militaries meet their capability needs.

The US and Bangladesh has strong military-to-military cooperation and it has been growing stronger, according to the ambassador.

‘We have partnerships across all branches of Bangladesh defence forces, working with the Navy on maritime security, with the Army and with the Air Force on operational and emergency response readiness through a host of training and exercises,’ he told a group of print media journalists.

He said that they were working with the Bangladeshi military in support of its plans for modernisation and developing its capabilities.

Asked about the recently announced US visa-bond requirement for Bangladesh and other countries and the halting of immigrant visa processing and its possible impact on people-to-people relations, the ambassador said that since day one, president Donald Trump had been very clear that his highest priority was protecting the US people, which meant securing their borders and dealing with the issue of illegal migration.

‘So what we’ve been doing around the world is looking at things like overstays on visas, illegal border crossings, the whole host of factors in there that we need to address so that the President can fulfil his commitment to the people who elected him to secure our border and to deal with the issue of illegal migration,’ Christensen explained.

‘So with the visa bond, Bangladesh is just one of many countries in the world that had this requirement added because of things like high rates of overstays on tourist and other temporary visa categories,’ he added.

He said, ‘It applies to our tourist and business visa category. It does not apply to our student visas, and it is not a retroactive policy to people who already have visas.’

‘We are committed to working with the government of Bangladesh to try to help educate people and do things that we can to reduce this rate of overstays so that we can evaluate our policy going forward. I do hope that you can also all encourage your readers to help not fall for any scammers. Nobody should pay a visa bond until they have been approved for a visa,’ he said.

On the immigrant visa pause, he said that they had initiated the pause to make sure that if somebody was given the privilege to immigrate to the US that they do not become a burden on the US taxpayers, that they become a valuable contributor to US society as so many Bangladeshi immigrants who had gone to the US had proven valuable contributors before.

About Bangladesh’s forthcoming national polls, the diplomat said that this was coming up on the most consequential election in nearly two decades.  ‘So we are really excited about the opportunities presented in Bangladesh. We have a very positive working relationship with the interim government. And I’m very hopeful that we will have a great relationship with whoever the Bangladeshi people choose to elect to form their new government in February.’

‘Both visa policy and tariff policy, these are not specific to Bangladesh. These are worldwide policies that the President has implemented, again, as part of the mandate he had from the American people,’ he added.

The ambassador iterated his government’s stance that the US did not take sides in Bangladesh elections and it was a sovereign decision of the Bangladeshi people.

‘No other country has a say in that. That is the sovereign right of the Bangladeshi people to go to the polls and vote for a new government. We talk to everybody,’ he added.

Christensen, who arrived in Dhaka on January 12, was confirmed by the US Senate as ambassador to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on December 18, 2025.

Source: https://www.newagebd.net/post/Foreign%20affairs/288857/us-envoy-in-bangladesh-raises-concerns-over-broader-chinese-influence-in-south-asia