This paper examines China’s ‘two-track approach’ in South Asia, focusing on the deepening security relations with Pakistan and the increasing economic diplomacy with Bangladesh. This approach, based on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), enhances China's regional geostrategic position and shifts the geopolitical landscape of the region. This paper employs qualitative methodology, examining secondary materials such as reports, documents, articles, government policy papers, and manuscripts on the triadic relations of China, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The analysis finds that Pakistan remains the main strategic ally, while CPEC has become its ‘mainland economic pivot’ and the geostrategic fulcrum for courting China’s entry into the Indian Ocean and the Gulf energy trade routes. Bangladesh, having transitioned from being peripheral to pivotal, now acts as a ‘balancing state’ in the region, enjoying Chinese support for infrastructure, trade, and defense, and also cooperation while managing relations with India. Together, these relations form a triangular configuration that weakens India’s position, enhances Chinese influence, and alters the region’s security dynamics. The analysis indicates that China’s double strategy has evolved from bilateralism to an integrated approach that changes the fundamental dynamics of power in South Asia, employing a strategy of development and containment..
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