Chinese president Xi Jinping, in a bilateral meeting in Beijing on Wednesday, assured Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina of economic assistance under a package incorporating four areas — grant, interest-free loan, concessional loan, and commercial loan.
In bilateral talks with Sheikh Hasina earlier on the day, China’s premier of the State Council, Li Qiang, announced that they would provide Bangladesh with financial assistance of one billion in Chinese currency RMB (Renminbi), equivalent to around Tk 1,600 crore.Â
‘The Chinese president has announced a package incorporating four types of financial assistance—grant, interest-free loan, concessional loan, and commercial loan—for Bangladesh in a bilateral meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina,’ foreign minister Hasan Mahmud told reporters in Beijing after the meeting.
He said that a technical committee from China would very soon visit Bangladesh to work jointly on the issue.Â
He said that the Chinese president, on his own, referred to the current situation in Myanmar and assured Sheikh Hasina of extending all-out cooperation in the repatriation of 13 lakh Rohingya to Myanmar from Bangladesh.
The Chinese president and the premier held separate meetings with the Bangladesh prime minister at the Great Hall of the People.
‘Referring to the current situation in Myanmar, the Chinese president has assured the prime minister of all support in resolving the Rohingya crisis by communicating with the Myanmar military regime and the Arakan Army if necessary,’ said the foreign minister.
Xi Jinping termed the Rohingya crisis a burning issue for Bangladesh, he added.
Bangladesh could not send a single Rohingya after the 2017 exodus amid a military crackdown on the ethnic minority group in their Rakhine State by the Myanmar authorities, raising the number of forcefully displaced people sheltered here to about 11 lakh.
Bangladesh and China signed 21 cooperation documents, mostly memorandums of understanding aimed at stronger economic cooperation between the two Asian nations, after the Hasina-Li Qiang talks, Hasan Mahmud said while briefing reporters.
About the talks with Xi, the foreign minister said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina told the Chinese president that China’s development had become a source of inspiration for Bangladesh, like many others.
The Chinese president told the Bangladesh PM that his country would continue its support for Bangladesh and wanted to invest more in the country, the minister claimed.
Bangladesh and China, he said, would celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic relations and keeping this in view, Xi expressed interest in elevating the ‘strategic and deep relationship’ between the two nations to the ‘second phase’.
Sheikh Hasina, on the other hand, emphasised reducing China’s trade gap with Bangladesh, while the Chinese president said that they would import more products from Bangladesh as they had begun importing mangoes.Â
Hasan said that the Chinese president emphasised increasing cultural exchange and people-to-people contact between the two nations.
The Chinese president also appreciated Bangladesh’s position in favour of the One-China policy and said that they did not interfere in the internal affairs of any country and also did not want others to interfere in one’s internal affairs.
About the change in the schedule of the prime minister, who was returning on Wednesday, truncating her visit, Hasan said that the prime minister decided to bring forward her return since she did not have any official events on Thursday.
Also, the prime minister wanted to avoid an overnight stay there due to the illness of her daughter back home.
This was Hasina’s sixth visit to China. She last visited Beijing in July 2019.