China differs from West on Rohingya crisis

Beijing supports Myanmar government’s efforts to protect stability, a senior official said

Experience shows that foreign interference in crises does not work and China supports the Myanmar government’s efforts to protect stability, a senior Chinese official said yesterday, amid ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh following a counter-insurgency offensive by Myanmar’s army in the wake of militant attacks on security forces.

UN officials have described Myanmar’s strategy as “ethnic cleansing”. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States held Myanmar’s military leadership responsible for its harsh crackdown.

Guo Yezhou, a deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, told reporters on the sidelines of a party congress that China condemned the attacks in Rakhine and understands and supports Myanmar’s efforts to protect peace and stability there.

China and Myanmar have a deep, long-standing friendship, and China believes Myanmar can handle its problems on its own, he added.

Asked why China’s approach to the Rohingya crisis was different from Western nations, Guo said that China’s principle was not to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

“Based on experience, you can see recently the consequences when one country interferes in another. We won’t do it,” he said, without offering any examples of when interventions go wrong.

China does not want instability in Myanmar as it inevitably will be affected as they share a long land border, Guo said.

“We condemn violent terrorist acts,” he added. and

AP Rohingya Muslim children, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, wait for their turn to collect meals distributed to children and women by a Turkish aid agency at Thaingkhali refugee camp.