BD awaits call from China to join tripartite meeting

The government is eagerly waiting for a call from China to hold another tripartite meeting among the three foreign ministers of Bangladesh, China and Myanmar to re-start the process of repartition of Rohingyas to their homeland.
In October this year, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has conveyed to Bangladesh that Myanmar recently assured them of taking back Rohingyas, who were forced to take temporary shelter in Bangladesh following a military crackdown in Rakhine State.
"We are taking preparations for the meeting as we were earlier informed that the meeting will be held after Myanmar's national polls. However, Myanmar goes to polls on Sunday," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer on Saturday evening.
During a tele-meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Momen, Wang Yi said China has been maintaining regular communication with Myanmar at various levels over the Rohingya repatriation while Naypyidaw assured Beijing that they would start discussion with Bangladesh in this regard soon.
Bangladesh foreign office hoped that China's influence
would lead to a solution to the problem. "We're ready," Dr Momen said, expressing Bangladesh's readiness to hold such a meeting likely to be held in Beijing.
"We don't want to integrate Rohingyas in our society. They must go back to their country (Myanmar)," the foreign minister added.
He said the number one objective of Bangladesh is to see the repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State.
"Following the tele-conversation between the two foreign ministers, the Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming is taking care about the proposed tripartite meeting among Foreign Ministers of the three countries-Bangladesh, Myanmar and China," according to the official.
He said ambassadors of Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold meeting first after election in Myanmar.
During a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country would do its best to resolve the problem as both Bangladesh and Myanmar were "close friends" of China.
Significantly, the Communist Party of China came up with an assurance that it would contact senior Myanmar leaders to amicably solve the crisis and start the repatriation as soon as possible.
Though Myanmar signed a bilateral deal with Bangladesh in November 2017, and a tripartite repatriation deal with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)and the UN Refugee Agency in June last year, repatriation could not be started as Rohingyas said there was no guarantee of safety, citizenship and other basic rights in Rakhine State, where things had only further deteriorated.
Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district and most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and other rights groups dubbed as "genocide".
Meanwhile, displeasure among locals is getting intensified on the Rohingyas and international organisations due to delay in the repatriation process. Crimes have been increasing in Rohingya camps but the process of repatriation has remained halted for last three years as not a single Rohingya went back home (Myanmar).
"Bangladesh sought a proactive role from both ASEAN and Thailand in the repatriation of Rohingyas to Rakhine State. We also sought support from India in this regard," another official of the Foreign Ministry told.
Repatriation attempts were failed twice in November 2018 and August 2019 amid Rohingyas' "lack of trust" on the Myanmar government, so we need support from all corners, he said.