DHAKA: India's foreign minister said Sunday that Myanmar must take back Rohingya Muslims to resolve one of Asia's largest refugee crises in decades.
In Beijing, an official with the ruling Chinese Communist Party said China supports Myanmar in "safeguarding peace and stability" and won't join other nations in condemning what many consider a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims.
Beijing condemns "violence and terror acts" and backs measures to restore order, said the vice minister of the party's International Department, Guo Yezhou, apparently referring to attacks by Rohingya rebels on Myanmar security forces.
More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since Aug 25, when violence erupted in northern Rakhine, an updated UN report said Sunday.
The UN has called the flight of the Rohingya a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing:.
A seemingly never-ending line of Rohingya continue to flee violence and threats in Myanmar and head (above) to refugee camps along the border in Bangladesh. (Reuters photo)
And at Rakhine state's chief town of Sittwe, Myanmar, on Sunday, hundreds of hard-line Buddhists protested Sunday in order to urge Myanmar's government not to repatriate the nearly 600,000 minority Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh since late August to escape violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
The opposing views of India and China come ahead of Wednesday's donor conference, a UN-led effort to raise money to care for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
At the Rakhine protest at Sittwe, the state capital, Aung Htay, a protest organizer, said any citizens would be welcome in the state.
"But if these people don't have the right to be citizens ... the government's plan for a conflict-free zone will never be implemented," he said.
Myanmar doesn't recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group, instead insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. Rohingya are excluded from the other, official, 135 ethnic groups in the country and denied citizenship.
Bangladesh's government said that Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj conveyed the demand to Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingya during a meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who ordered border guards and her administration to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to allow them to cross the border and shelter in makeshift camps in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar.
The United News of Bangladesh agency reported that Swaraj said, "Myanmar must take back their nationals ... this is a big burden for Bangladesh. How long will Bangladesh bear it? There should be a permanent solution to this crisis."
Earlier Sunday, the Indian foreign minister in a meeting with her Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali said her country is worried about the violence.
"We've urged the situation be handled with restraint, keeping in mind the welfare of the population," she said in a statement.
Swaraj also said India supported the implementation of recommendations suggesting recognition of the Rohingya ethnic group within Myanmar's territory.
In the statement, she also said creating economic opportunity in the troubled Rakhine state could help resolve the situation.
"In our view, the only long-term solution to the situation in Rakhine State is rapid socio-economic and infrastructure development that would have a positive impact on all the communities living in the state," she was quoted as saying in the statement.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister urged India to play a greater role by "exerting sustained pressure" on Myanmar to find a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis.
Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CPP), explains China's full backing of the Myanmar army and government in the campaign against the Rohingya. (AP photo)
In Beijing, Guo said China supports "Myanmar's efforts in safeguarding peace and stability in this region and hoped all areas, including Rakhine state, will realize peace, stability and development."
China believes Myanmar's government and people are "capable of handling" the situation without outside help, Guo said.
"China and Myanmar are friendly neighboring countries joined by rivers and mountains. China will be affected if there's any instable situation in Myanmar," he said.
India's shift toward resolving the Rohingya crisis would mean a lot to China's policy to support Myanmar, which says Rohingya Muslims are illegal migrants from Bangladesh, not its citizens.
Swaraj is visiting Bangladesh to discuss bilateral issues.