China to enhance cooperation with Myanmar, Bangladesh to resolve Rakhine issue

An informal trilateral meeting involving officials from China, Myanmar and Bangladesh at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Monday produced three points of consensus on the Rakhine issue.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi poses for photos with Myanmar's Minister of the State Counselor's Office U Kyaw Tint Swe, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, and the UN Secretary-General's special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener at an informal trilateral meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on September 23, 2019. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

The meeting was presided over by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and saw the participation of Myanmar's Minister of the State Counselor's Office U Kyaw Tint Swe, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, and the UN Secretary-General's special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener.

Wang said that since last year, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh have held three informal foreign ministers' meetings, with each of them having made progress, and that a lot of work has been done concerning the repatriation of people fleeing the chaos in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The conditions for resolving this issue are accumulating and maturing, he said, adding that all parties should further strengthen communication and consultation and push for substantive progress on the repatriation issue as soon as possible.

As a friend of both Myanmar and Bangladesh, China is ready to provide assistance within its capacity, he added.

The two officials from Myanmar as Bangladesh as well as Schraner Burgener greatly appreciated and thanked China for its substantial and constructive efforts in promoting the proper settlement of the repatriation of people fleeing from chaos in the Rakhine state, and agreed to further seek effective ways to solve the issue as soon as possible through cooperation.

The meeting has reached three points of consensus. Firstly, it is the strong political will and important political consensus of the three parties to realize the repatriation as soon as possible. Both Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed that this issue cannot be postponed any longer and should be resolved at an early date.

Secondly, the parties unanimously agreed to establish a China-Myanmar-Bangladesh Joint Working Group mechanism, with Myanmar and Bangladesh as the main body and China participating, to be responsible for the concrete implementation of repatriation-related work under the political guidance of the foreign ministers of the three countries.

Thirdly, development is the fundamental way to solve the Rakhine issue. The three sides agreed to strengthen tripartite cooperation, especially by making good use of the existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms between China and Myanmar as well as China and Bangladesh, to help the Rakhine state and the Myanmar-Bangladesh border areas to boost employment and improve people's livelihoods, and to fundamentally create conditions for the realization of the region's stability and development.