Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said China will continue to serve as a “bridge of communication and try its best to facilitate early results” as Bangladesh seeks early repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar.
“We fully understand the keenness of Bangladesh to start repatriation, and our determination to help the two friendly neighbours resolve this long-standing issue will never change,” he said while speaking at an online symposium hosted by the Cosmos Foundation.
While delivering the keynote speech, Ambassador Li said the sudden change in Myanmar earlier this year - the coup in February - caught them all by surprise, and created some uncertainties over the repatriation process.
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Right now, he said, China is closely observing the situation in Myanmar, hoping the country could return to normal soon.
Cosmos Foundation Chairman Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks at the symposium titled “Bangladesh-China Relations: Prognosis for the Future” which premiered on its Facebook page on Thursday evening.
Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, renowned scholar-diplomat and adviser on foreign affairs to the last caretaker government, chaired the session.
Ambassador (retd) Tariq A. Karim, CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, former Foreign Secretary Shamsher M. Chowdhury, Assistant Researcher of the Institute for International Studies at Yunnan University Dr Zou Yingmeng, Assistant Research Fellow at China Institute of International Studies Dr Ning Shengnan, former Ambassador Serajul Islam and Dhaka University Professor Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir comprised the panel of discussants.
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Former Ambassador Tariq Karim said, “I would request China to support us in our efforts to augment regional and sub-regional cooperation on a number of issues which will have consequences with China, particularly in resolving the Rohingya issue, not just in Bangladesh, but particularly in its point of origin where China has the capacity to help us resolve it.”
Metaphorically speaking about the current volatile situation in Myanmar, he said he sees the flame in the centre and it is at the point of imploding, and imploding Myanmar will lead to an explosion that will not leave any country, including China, Bangladesh, India and any of the Asean countries, untouched.