British envoy says Chinese mediation will help end Rohingya crisis

British High Commissioner Robert Dickson has welcomed Beijing’s mediation in the Rohingya issue and said Chinese involvement has a “great deal of potential” to help end the crisis.

“We have seen there has been greater Chinese engagement. That’s a good thing,” he said at a press briefing on Sunday. He stressed a “wide range of countries” involvement to solve the crisis.

The comment came when China is ready to host talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly.

High Commissioner Dickson was briefing reporters about the new additional £87 million UK fund to sustain the Rohingya refugee operations in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas. About 750,000 of them fled the ‘ethnic cleansing’ in their homeland Myanmar in August 2017.

Despite attempts to repatriate the forcibly displaced Rohingyas, no-one returned to their homeland citing Myanmar's failure to create conditions conducive to their “voluntary, safe and dignified” return.

China which used its veto power in the UN Security Council to prevent any actions against Myanmar has been trying to mediate the issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The Chinese embassy representative was seen in the latest botched attempt of starting repatriation on Aug 22.

Last year in July, they organised a meeting between the foreign ministers of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The then foreign minister, AH Mahmood Ali, also sat with Myanmar officials in the presence of his Chinese counterpart in New York.