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China willing to help solve Rohingya crisis: Foreign minister Wang Yi

China willing to help solve Rohingya crisis: Foreign minister Wang Yi

China wades into Rohingya crisis

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China's foreign minister said was also ready to negotiate with Bangladesh to seek a better solution to the Rohingya refugee crisis

Foreign minister Wang Yi said Chinais willing to help solve the Rohingya crisis between Bangladesh and Myanmar "as soon as possible" to avoid further massive influx of refugees into Bangladesh.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi on a visit to Bangladesh met his counterpart AH Mahmood Ali even as the Rohingya refugee issue continued to spiral out of control.

The Chinese foreign minister saidhe was also ready to negotiate with Bangladesh to seek a better solution to the Rohingya refugee crisis which has soured relations between the two Asian neighbours.

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"Bangladesh and Myanmar are both close neighbours and good friends of China. China is willing to play a role in properly solving this Rohingya issue," China's foreign minister said.

Wang said it has urgedMyanmar to achieve an "in situ ceasefire" to immediately stop the influx of refugees into Bangladesh which has put excessive pressure on its economy as thousands have been streaming into Chittagong everyday since August 25th.

"We have seen now, through the joint efforts by all parties concerned, including China, the ceasefire has been held and the tensions were visibly eased. Bangladesh and Myanmar have conducted multiple rounds of interaction and are expected to cut a deal on the repatriation of the Rohingya people. China is glad and welcomes such a development," Wang said after meeting Bangladesh's foreign minister.

In September, UN human rights chief Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein had said the situation in Myanmar was a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" as several thousand Rohingyas fled to Myanmar's Rakhine state to escape reported atrocities by the Myanmar Army.

Later, the US too condemned the Myanmar government with US secretary of state Rex Tillerson visiting Myanmar last week to put pressure on the Myanmar government to end the crisis.

The UN said over 4,40,000 refugees had already fled to Bangladesh.

China, however, appealed to the international community to help solve the crisis.

"We believe, with the help of the international community, Bangladesh and Myanmar will certainly be able to further ease the situation through dialog and consultation and find a way to fundamentally solve the issue," said Wang.