Beijing, Jul 5 (UNB) – The Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday said it will contact the top leaders of Myanmar to amicably solve the Rohingya crisis and start the repatriation process as soon as possible.
CPC Minister for International Affairs Song Tao gave the assurance when he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Diaoyuati State Guest House here.
“We’ll contact Myanmar political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, to solve the Rohingya problem amicably and so that the repatriation of the first batch of the Rohingyas starts as soon as possible,” he said.
Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.2 million Rohingyas. Most of them fled their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine State after the military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly-Muslim ethnic minority in August 2017.
Foreign Minister AK Momen had told media that the prolonged presence of a large number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh can create an uncertainty and harm the development of the entire region.
China made huge investments in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and the Rohingya crisis might obstruct the fulfillment of their expectations, he said.
PM’s speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.
‘Bangladesh, China share same goal’
Song Tao highly appreciated Bangladesh’s tremendous development under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“A very friendly relation now prevails between the two countries and we’ll continue support for Bangladesh’s development endeavours,” he said.
The CPC leader described Bangladesh’s GDP growth as “rare in the world”.
In response, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh attained 8.1 percent growth in the last fiscal year and has set 8.2 percent growth target for the current fiscal.
Song Tao hoped that the relations between the CPC and Bangladesh Awami League will be further deepened. He expected that Awami League delegations of various levels would visit China. “Through these visits, ties between the two parties will be close further,” he said.
The CPC leader said their delegation would visit Bangladesh soon.
At the outset of the meeting, he thanked the Prime Minister for her visit to China.
Terming China as one of the development partners of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Hasina said a deep relation exists between the Awami League and the CPC.
She said that Bangladesh and China share a similar goal and that is poverty alleviation and fulfilling the basic needs of the people.
“Our government is tirelessly working to achieve this goal,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, recalled his visits to China in 1952 and 1957.
She said Bangabandhu, while narrating the visits to her, predicted that a “new China” is going to be created.
“I’m now seeing that China which Bangabandhu predicted after the tours,” she said.
In this connection, Sheikh Hasina said she is now editing a book named ‘New China’ from Bangabandhu’s diary, adding that the book containing Bangabandhu’s predictions about China will be published soon.
The CPC leader expressed interest to translate the book into Chinese and said that they will distribute it among the Chinese people after its publication.
The prime minister extended her heartiest congratulations to the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, PM’s Private Investment and Industry Affairs Adviser Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Muhammad Faruk Khan, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque and Bangladesh Ambassador to China M Fazlul Karim were present on the occasion, among others.
