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November 20, 2017

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China urges international help for Rakhine state

Source: Agencies | 00:01 UTC+8 November 20, 2017 | Print Edition

CHINA said yesterday that the international community must help fight poverty and promote development in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which has seen hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee amid a military crackdown.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was speaking after a meeting with Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Htin Kyaw and military chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, the country’s capital.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine for neighboring Bangladesh since late August, when the military launched what it called “clearance operations” in response to insurgent attacks. The refugees say soldiers and Buddhist mobs attacked them and burned their villages to force them to flee.

Wang said China has a “three-stage plan” to help solve the Rohingya crisis.

“First is to have a cease-fire and to restore order and stability, so the people could stop running away and live in peace,” he said. “In the second stage, all parties should encourage and support Myanmar and Bangladesh to strengthen exchanges, to find a way to solve this issue through consultation on the basis of equality.”

The third stage, he said, is for the international community to help develop Rakhine.

“Rakhine state has rich resources but develops them inadequately,” Wang said. “We call on the international community to help the region get rid of poverty and increase investment ... China is willing to help and play its part.”

Suu Kyi lauded Myanmar’s relationship with China.

“China and Myanmar are very much different in size and power, but when it comes to mutual understanding, the two countries are friends with the same values,” she said.

On Saturday, Wang told reporters in Dhaka, where he met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, that the Rohingya crisis should be solved between Myanmar and Bangladesh and should not involve outside parties.

“The international community should not complicate the situation,” Wang said in a press briefing at the Chinese Embassy.

Bangladesh is in negotiations with Myanmar aimed at a deal to repatriate Rohingya refugees and Dhaka’s foreign minister will address the matter at talks in Myanmar this week, the Bangladeshi foreign ministry said yesterday.

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