Dhaka, Feb. 7 -- The recent alignment between India and the United States has sparked significant debate across South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, which now finds itself at the crossroads of competing great-power interests. What seems like a simple trade adjustment -- where Washington reduces tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for New Delhi agreeing to stop purchasing oil from Russia -- actually indicates a deeper strategic realignment.

The Indo-Pacific has emerged as the central arena for geopolitical competition, with both India and the United States sharing a long-term goal: to restrict China's influence throughout South Asia and the greater Indo-Pacific region. Bangladesh, once seen as peripheral to major power dynamics, has no...