US NSS 2025: A New Strategic Reality for Bangladesh Amid Intensifying US–China Rivalry
By Tanvir Rusmat, Dhaka, December 11, 2025
The U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) 2025 sharpens Washington’s focus on the Indo-Pacific, placing China at the center of long-term strategic competition. It calls for stronger alliances, enhanced maritime security, resilient supply chains, and closer regional defense partnerships. This shift elevates the strategic significance of Bangladesh, positioned at the Bay of Bengal crossroads and maintaining key ties with both China and the United States.
The strategy highlights expanded cooperation within the Quad and AUKUS, a new security framework with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, and intensified monitoring of critical maritime routes, including the Bay of Bengal–Andaman Sea corridor. For Bangladesh, this makes its coastal and maritime position geopolitically important.
Bangladesh faces both opportunities and challenges. China remains a major infrastructure and development partner through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while the U.S. is its largest export market and an important security partner. The NSS 2025 is likely to encourage closer alignment with Washington on regional security, even as Beijing promotes stronger economic ties. Managing this balance will require careful diplomacy.
The strategy also opens avenues for collaboration in maritime surveillance, cybersecurity, and satellite monitoring, offering technological and capacity-building benefits. Meanwhile, global supply-chain shifts could position Bangladesh as a hub for apparel, light manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and ICT outsourcing, reducing reliance on China-centric networks. However, increased scrutiny of BRI projects could introduce new economic and political complexities.
Bangladesh’s priorities in this evolving landscape include export diversification, partnerships with the U.S., Japan, and Europe in high-tech sectors, and balanced defense modernization. Strengthening the blue economy and maritime security through international cooperation will also be critical to avoiding overdependence on any single power.
In short, NSS 2025 signals a new phase of Indo-Pacific competition, placing Bangladesh at a pivotal intersection of opportunity and tension. Its success will hinge on maintaining diplomatic balance, fostering strategic partnerships, and navigating the interplay between development and great-power rivalry.