China Daily Global Edition (USA)
China looks to help Myanmar, Bangladesh on refugee challenges
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to continue to build a platform for communication between Myanmar and Bangladesh and provide humanitarian aid to displaced refugees.
Wang spoke at an informal meeting among China, Myanmar and Bangladesh at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
Wang met with Myanmar’s minister of the office of the State Counselor U Kyaw Tint Swe and Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali. UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres also attended.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 720,000 Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority living in mostly Buddhist Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, have fled to Bangladesh since violence broke out in August 2017.
They joined another 200,000 Rohingya who earlier fled into adjacent Bangladesh, the UNHCR said.
Three points of consensus were reached during the meeting on Thursday.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to properly resolve the Rakhine issue through amicable negotiations.
“China and other countries, including the United Nations, are willing to provide assistance,” Wang added in an interview after the meeting.
The Bangladeshi side said that it’s ready to repatriate the first group of displaced people, and the Myanmar side said it’s ready to receive those people to return to their homes.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to convene a joint working group meeting as soon as possible to form a repatriation road map and timetable and to complete the first round of repatriation as soon as possible.
Wang said the Rakhine is a complex historical issue.
“Once this problem is solved, it will not only conform to the common interests of Myanmar and Bangladesh, but also contribute to regional peace and stability,” he said.
Wang also said that the Rakhine issue is essentially a problem between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
“China does not agree to complicate, expand or internationalize this issue,” he said. “It is hoped that the two sides of Myanmar and Bangladesh could overcome difficulties through amicable negotiations and work in tandem to find a solution to the problem.”
Wang pointed out that the most urgent task is to speed up the first round of repatriation of displaced people.
He said that the international community, including the UN, can play a constructive role in that regard.
Wang met with the two ministers in an informal meeting in Beijing in June. China, Myanmar and Bangladesh have reached a fourpoint principle consensus on solving the Rakhine issue.
They agreed to improve the situation in Rakhine state as soon as possible based on a three-phase solution, namely on-site ceasefire, repatriation, and development, and then seek a formal solution through negotiations on that basis.
They also agreed to take concrete measures as soon as possible to solve repatriation issues.
Myanmar and Bangladesh reached an agreement last November on the arrangements concerning displaced people returning to Rakhine state, after they had fled to Bangladesh due to conflict in the region.
China will provide further help to Myanmar and Bangladesh to improve the living conditions and resettlement of displaced people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The aid, based on the willingness of Myanmar and Bangladesh, will include emergency material aid and construction of required facilities,
The two countries also agreed to give full play to each other’s advantages and strengthen cooperation in the border area between Myanmar and Bangladesh so as to improve the livelihood of the people.
It is hoped that the two sides of Myanmar and Bangladesh could overcome difficulties.” Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China