China to aid Dhaka

Beijing offers to help Bangladesh shelter and feed hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

BEIJING: China will offer humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh to help shelter and feed hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar, the foreign minister said.

Wang Yi also told reporters yesterday that China hoped repatriation of refugees could begin “as early as possible,” following a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Beijing.

“We will contribute our efforts (to help with offering more humanitarian aid) in line with Bangladesh’s needs,” Wang said.

Ali said the two had “detailed discussions” about the status of the refugees and that he sought China’s support for the “early reparation of these displaced people back to their homeland” in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August to escape what United Nations and US officials have called an “ethnic cleansing” campaign by Myanmar’s government. Ali gave the number of refugees at 1.1 million.

The UN refugee agency has signed a preliminary agreement for the return of the refugees with Bangladesh and Myanmar provided the conditions for a safe and orderly repa-

We will contribute our efforts (to help with offering more humanitarian aid) in line with Bangladesh’s needs. Wang Yi

triation are fulfilled – something aid workers say still has not happened on the ground in Myanmar.

China maintains close ties to Myanmar’s powerful military and has refused to join international condemnation of the campaign of organised violence.

The Foreign Ministry has previously described the issue as an internal affair containing “complicated historical, national and religious factors”.

Myanmar has denied Rohingya citizenship and other rights and considers them immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations. — AP