Ruling Awami League sending team to China amid crisis over Rohingya refugees from Myanmar

A team of Awami League leaders will be visiting China on a pre-scheduled tour which is now coinciding with Bangladesh's overwhelming crisis over Rohingya refugees who have been fleeing state-sponsored atrocities at the Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Kazi Mobarak Hossainbdnews24.com
Published : 16 Sept 2017, 07:14 PM
Updated : 16 Sept 2017, 08:17 PM

The tour comes at a time when many in the country and abroad are suggesting that Bangladesh should lobby China to exert pressure on Myanmar to stop violence and take back the refugees.

The 19-member delegation, headed by Presidium Member Faruk Khan, would start for Beijing on the nine-day tour on invitation from the Communist Party of China on Tuesday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader told a news conference in Dhaka on Saturday. Former foreign minister Dipu Moni is also a member of the party delegation.

"All issues related to both the countries will be discussed along with party-to-party talks," Quader said.

"As the Rohingya issue has come in front, our leaders will call on (China) to take steps to resolve the crisis," he added.

Speaking about the Rohingya issue, he said, "It is the biggest challenge for the government now."

One of the leaders in the Awami League delegation told bdnews24.com that they would discuss the Rohingya issue in China.

"We will urge China to take the step on the issue from their own position," the Awami League leader said.

The number of refugees flooding Bangladesh in the current spell of violence has crossed 400,000. The Rohingyas are escaping a counteroffensive against the ethnic Muslim minority by the Myanmar Army in response to insurgent attacks.

Aid agencies and the people in Bangladesh are struggling to handle the huge number of refugees, with another 400,000 who took shelter in the country in decades of persecution in Myanmar.

Ethiopian Ambassador to the UN Tekeda Alemu urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to strengthen her international lobbying efforts to resolve the crisis on Friday, a day before Hasina's departure for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.   

He said he believed China’s support was required to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission’s report on the Rohingya crisis.

Ethiopia is heading the United Nations Security Council for September this year. The council earlier condemned the Myanmar actions in a statement agreed on the country for the first time in nine years.

China, one of the permanent members of the council, is a long-time ally of Myanmar.

Earlier in March this year, China, backed by Russia, blocked a short UN Security Council statement on Myanmar, after the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine State. 

Almost all the countries, including the UK and the US, and global organisations have condemned Myanmar for its action against the Rohingyas and urged it to stop the ongoing army crackdown against the ethnic minority.

China, however, skirted the issue, branding it as Myanmar's 'internal affair'.

“The stance of China regarding the terrorist attacks in Rakhine is clear, it is just an internal affair," Myanmar News Agency quoted the Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang as saying on Sept 14.

Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang has suggested that the Rohingya Muslim insurgents are to blame for the crisis in Rakhine State.

Speaking to reporters on Sept 10, Ambassador Mingqiang noted that the recent violence in Rakhine started through attacks by the insurgents on police posts and an army base on Aug 25, pushing the Rohingya people across the border.

But he acknowledged that Bangladesh was suffering due to the situation developing across the border.

He said China was also suffering from the Rohingya crisis because it had investments in Myanmar and wanted to revive BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar) economic corridor plan.