Diplomatic Correspondent

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen has said Bangladesh will soon get back to the track of “normalcy, stability, unity, development and prosperity” though joint efforts by all stakeholders under the leadership of Prof Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

Till this course, he said, China will extend whatever supports requested by Bangladesh.

“We see enormous potential for our cooperation. We see lot of cooperation works that we can take together,” Ambassador Yao told reporters after his meeting with Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman on Monday, reports UNB.

The envoy said China will not intervene into internal affairs of any country and whatever happened inside Bangladesh will not affect Dhaka-Beijing relations.

“It is an internal affairs of Bangladesh. We will respect the decision made by the people of Bangladesh. We are respectful to Bangladesh,” Ambassador Yao said when a journalist wanted to know about interim government’s reforms agenda and time frame.

He said China is supportive towards Bangladesh, its people and the interim government.

“It is a very important day,” said the envoy, adding that he had very good, constructive and positive discussion with the Jamaat chief.

Yao said Jamaat used to have a very good relations with their Chinese counterpart and the Embassy in Dhaka. “But it has been affected over the last 13 years,” he added.

“Now we believe it is time to resettable our close ties and restart our dialogue and cooperation. We discussed our future cooperation between parties and between the two countries,” he said.

The ambassador said Jamaat is supportive to China-Bangladesh relations and wished to see more cooperation and more Chinese investment in Bangladesh.

On Rohingya issue, the ambassador said they are committed to Rohingya repatriation and China has been playing its role continuously.

He said they will work together with all stakeholders in Bangladesh including Jamaat for early repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar.

The ambassador said Bangladesh is at historical crossroads at this moment and China is committed to deepening exchanges and cooperation with the Interim Government, all political parties and all walks of life in Bangladesh to consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries.

He said China is also committed to promote the continuous development of the Bangladesh-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so as to bring more benefit to the two countries and the two peoples.

The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on China-Bangladesh relations, inter-party exchanges and cooperation and other issues of common concern, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.

“It’s a very good meeting and we are looking forward to more cooperation with Jamaat,” the ambassador said.

Shafiqur Rahman appreciated China’s great contribution to the economic and social development of Bangladesh.

He reiterated Jamaat’s firm support for the One-China Principle and it is willing to strengthen cooperation between the two parties and the two countries with the Chinese side.