Many Bangladeshis unhappy with China’s role in resolving Rohingya Crisis, survey shows

NEWS DESK

In a survey, the majority of respondents from Bangladesh were found unaware of the Communist Party China, despite having a favourable opinion of the current Chinese government.

The survey finds that people in Bangladesh are concerned regarding the status of Uighur Muslims in China and at least 56 per cent are dissatisfied with China’s role in resolving the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The Centre for Genocide Studies of Dhaka University, with the support of the Embassy of China in Bangladesh, conducted the survey nationwide from January to February 2022, with the total sample size being 5,200.

‘Respondents in the study were asked about their views on the Communist Party of China. The highest number of the respondents, that is 39 per cent, were unaware of the party’s activities and the second-highest, 33 per cent remained neutral, although the communist parties had once been very active in Bengal,’ said Dhaka University professor of International Relations Imtiaz Ahmed while presenting the survey report on ‘National Image of China in Bangladesh’ at a city hotel on Thursday (Oct 13, 2022).

He said that the party’s strong ‘unitary leadership’ secured the highest response (37 per cent) from the respondents when they were asked to express their views on the current Chinese government.

‘The second highest [35 per cent] number of respondents is not sure about the functions of the government,’ said professor Imtiaz, also director of the Centre for Genocide Studies.

He said China was expected to play a significant role in ensuring the repatriation of the forcibly displaced people to their homeland Myanmar, as a tripartite agreement was signed among the three countries to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

Speaking at the event, the ambassador of China to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, said that there were still some misunderstandings on China-related issues, originating from cultural differences, cognitive bias, or fake news.

He said that they would inevitably undermine the friendly base of China-Bangladesh relations and further hinder the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

The ambassador called upon the media to release more objective news on China-Bangladesh relations, try to screen out China-related fake news, often cooked up by foreign media with ill intentions, and avoid republishing them.

Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury, secretary (West), foreign affairs ministry of Bangladesh, DU economics professor Mahbubul Mokaddem and former ambassador Nasim Firdaus, among others, spoke on the occasion.