Rohingya issue is between Myanmar and Bangladesh, says China diplomat at UN summit meeting
China wants international community to play ‘constructive role’ in finding a resolution after voting against investigation into human rights abuses
China’s top diplomat has said the Rohingya issue should not be complicated, expanded or “internationalised”, as the United Nations prepares to set up a body to prepare evidence of human rights abuses in Myanmar.
China, along with the Philippines and Burundi, voted against the Human Rights Council motion on Thursday to establish the panel which will also look into possible genocide in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine. More than 100 countries were in favour.
“The Rakhine state issue is in essence an issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh,” Councillor Wang Yi told representatives of Bangladesh and Myanmar on the sidelines of the UN summit, at a meeting also attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Speaking to Bangladesh foreign minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar’s minister of the office of the state counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe, Wang said the Rakhine issue was a complex historical one.
He said Beijing hoped the two countries could find a resolution via talks, and that China was willing to continue to help provide a platform communication.