Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said China will not build any military base in Bangladesh or any other foreign land.

“China will not build any military facility or military base on any foreign territory, including in Bangladesh. China will not build anything militarily in any other country’s territory. That’s for sure,” he said when his attention was drawn about a report carried by NIKKEI ASIA titled "India wary of China setting up Bangladesh missile maintenance hub".

With China preparing to set up a maintenance facility in Bangladesh for surface-to-air missile systems it supplied in 2011, alarm bells are ringing in New Delhi, reads the report.

Ambassador Jiming, however, said he does not have any specific information about the media report and he will have to check it further. “I cannot firmly confirm this information because this is from the (media) report. I will have to check it.”

The Embassy of China in Bangladesh hosted the in-person press conference titled "Spring Dialogue with China" at Pan Pacific Sonargaon moderated by Inam Ahmed, Editor of the Business Standard.

The ambassador shared his thoughts on various issues including Bangladesh-China relations, Rohingya crisis, infrastructure, trade and investment, Quad, Indo-Pacific Strategy and AUKUS Taiwan situation.

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Ukraine Issue

Ambassador Jiming said China is not taking the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine, rather Beijing wants a peaceful resolution to the issue through dialogue.

"Not really," he said when asked whether China is taking the side of Rusia. Both Russia and Ukraine are Beijing’s friends, he emphasised.

Referring to Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen's statement over the Ukraine issue, the Chinese Ambassador said Bangladesh wants peace and that is what China exactly wants.

He said Bangladesh and China maintained similar positions regarding the Ukraine issue.

Rohingya Crisis

The Chinese envoy said China continues its efforts to facilitate an early repatriation of the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State.

"I think some progress has been made. But unfortunately, there is no significant officially organised repatriation yet,” he said, hoping to achieve the goal this year.

There have been some working mechanisms, he said refusing to go into details until something concrete is achieved.

"So unfortunately, I can't give you more information about it. The only thing I can give you right now is [that] China is making all due efforts to help and to speed up the process of early repatriation,” said the envoy.

Bangladesh and its international partners are looking for “voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable” repatriation of the Rohingyas.

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Quad & Wise Decision

China believes that Bangladesh will not join the Quad alliance as the country has made it clear that it will not join any military alliance.

Though the US and its allies said that Quad is not against China, China sees it as a military alliance targeting China.

The Chinese ambassador hoped that Bangladesh would take a wise decision regarding joining such an alliance and referred to Bangladesh's foreign policy principles - friendship to all, malice to none.

Responding to a question he said China’s share in Bangladesh’s overseas loan portfolio is only around 5 per cent and that is why the notion that Bangladesh might fall into Chinese debt trap is totally illogical.

He said that Chinese investment in Bangladesh has increased by 300 per cent and it will further increase after the beginning of the operation of the Chinese Economic Zone in Chittagong.

This zone awaits the approval of the Bangladesh government and he hoped that very soon it would be approved.

Replying to a question he said Covid pandemic, and land acquisition were the main problems behind the delay in the implementation of the China-funded projects in Bangladesh.

He also pointed out that the Chinese Belt and Road initiative didn’t lose momentum.

Responding to a question, the ambassador said Bangladeshi students who study in China can soon be able to return to China under a special pilot project. Only 10 countries are included in the pilot programme and Bangladesh is one of them, he said.

Despite pandemic China did not halt issuing visas to the businessmen of Bangladesh, he mentioned.

More New Projects

Ambassador Jiming hinted that more China-supported projects will be implemented in Bangladesh.

"A lot of new projects are coming," he said, preferring not to announce anything before finalisation.

For example, the ambassador said, another Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge project is under discussion and will be finalised soon, which is a gift from the Chinese government to the Bangladeshi people as the previous eight.