Bangladesh and China held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for a joint special economic zone, a long-delayed intergovernmental project in which Beijing has pledged several hundred million euros in investment and the creation of over 100,000 jobs. The zone will be located near Chittagong (Bangladesh's largest port) and an international airport, giving it strong logistics links via the Bay of Bengal. The project, accelerated after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visited China in late June, is seen as a lifeline for Bangladesh's struggling economy and a strategic foothold for China to relocate manufacturing and reduce reliance on traditional shipping routes such as the Strait of Malacca.