Beijing has urged Dhaka for immediate Rohingya repatriation even in a small scale, so that it can get momentum as the time goes by.
China's Special Envoy of Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang made the plea when he visited Dhaka last week. Guoxiang came to Bangladesh from Myanmar.
A foreign ministry official said that China wants early repatriation even at a limited scale of 500 to 600 people.
“They [China] are of view that if the repatriation will get momentum once it starts,” he said.
“The Chinese envoy told us that the Myanmar side has set up transit camp for 30,000 people. But, he could not give any answer when we asked how long the Rohingyas will stay in the transit camps or where will they go from there or what is settlement plan.”
Bangladesh handed over a list of 8,032 Rohingyas, but Myanmar could verify only a little over 1,000 in the last three months, the official said adding, “In this pace it would take years to complete the repatriation process.”
Bangladesh is not interested to repatriate in a piecemeal basis, rather it wants Myanmar to take back a critical mass of at least 100,000 Rohingyas, he said.
Another official said, Beijing also requested Bangladesh not to internationalise the Rohingya issue as it might be counter-productive.
Killings, arson, rape and other crimes against humanity committed by Myanmar forces are regional and international issue and it would be discussed in the international space whether Dhaka wants or not, he said.
The Chinese envoy also expressed his displeasure over anti-Beijing coverage on Rohingya issue in Bangladeshi media and sought foreign ministry’s intervention.
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj at a press briefing in New Delhi on Monday said that Myanmar’s verification of 1,222 Rohingyas for repatriation was a silver lining to the crisis.
The Indian foreign minister said she is very happy to know that Bangladesh and Myanmar have reached a time-bound deal to complete the repatriation process by two years.
She defended Nay Pyi Taw by saying, “It is not true that Myanmar refused to take them [Rohingyas] back.”
Responding to a query on India siding with Myanmar, she said, Bangladesh never made such allegation.
Bangladesh is now home to over 1.1 million Rohingyas after some 700,000 fled the northern Rakhine state since late August due to a military crackdown.
The UN and US has described it as ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingyas while Myanmar describes it a legitimate response to attacks by insurgents on police posts and an army camp in the region.
Bangladesh has identified anti Muslim and Rohingya campaign, negative attitude of Rakhine politicians and aggressive action of local civilian vigilantes as the stumbling blocks in repatriating Rohingyas to their homeland.