Arakan News Agency
China has offered to help solve the Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh announced on Saturday after meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister in Dhaka hoping to transfer pressure on the Myanmar side to repatriate hundreds of thousands of refugees.
More than 600,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority fled Myanmar to camps set up in Bangladesh to escape the violence and crackdown launched by the Myanmar army in late August.
The United Nations says the scorched-earth policy adopted in the military campaign, which has turned hundreds of villages in Arakan state in northern Myanmar into ashes, has risen to the level of ethnic cleansing.
Before the recent exodus, Bangladesh has housed about 250,000 Rohingyas and wants the new refugees to return quickly and intends to seek the help of Myanmar’s ally China.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the issue in Dhaka.
“In introducing the issue of the flight of the Myanmar people, the Chinese foreign minister said that his country, as a friend, will help solve this issue and will not take sides with anyone,” the Bangladeshi minister said in a statement after the talks.
Wang Yi stressed the importance of pursuing consultations and dialogue between Bangladesh and Myanmar on this issue, the statement said.
Details of the practical steps China might take were not disclosed.
Myanmar is under international criticism for the suffering of the Rohingya minority, but China has contributed to its protection in international forums.
The UN Security Council earlier this month abandoned a draft resolution to demand an end to violence in Myanmar after fierce opposition from China.
Wang Yi held a press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka for a number of local media, saying that Beijing supports “an appropriate solution to problems through bilateral channels,” according to the private news agency of Bangladesh (UPB).
However, the Chinese foreign minister warned of new UN moves to criticize or punish Myanmar.
Wang Yi is the first of a group of Asian and European foreign ministers to visit Bangladesh for talks on the refugee crisis that weighs heavily on the impoverished Asian nation.
