Dhaka, Bangladesh has sought China’s support to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. China has also promised to help repatriate thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled the country and settled in Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar after violent clashes. According to the report, more than 7 lakh Rohingya Muslims live in Bangladesh. In 2017, Myanmar launched a military crackdown on the minority group, after which they fled to Bangladesh.
During the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Bangladesh requested assistance in repatriating Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. At the same time, Yi promised better trade relations, investment and support for infrastructure development in the South Asian nation.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Moman told a news conference that China has built 3,000 houses in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for the possible return of Rohingya Muslims, according to the Chinese foreign minister.
Bangladesh Minister Moman said that China will also arrange initial food aid for the refugees after their return. The minister said that we should thank China for agreeing to do so. He said that identity verification of the refugees is going on. According to officials, Myanmar has so far identified about 58,000 people.
Bangladesh has collected biometric data of several lakh refugees living in camps located in the south-eastern district of Cox’s Bazar.
Rohingya China used its influence in Myanmar to broker a November 2017 agreement related to the repatriation of nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled the country in August 2017 due to persecution in Myanmar.
However, it remains to be seen how successful the Sino-Bangladesh effort will be as despite repeated attempts to repatriate the Rohingya, the refugees have refused to return to Myanmar, citing Jakham. He claims that the situation in Myanmar has become more serious since the military coup.HS1MS