appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Ashfaq Zaman

The Rohingya people have endured one of the world’s most protracted, yet least visible, humanitarian crises. Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in what were supposed to be temporary camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. They still have little prospect of returning to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
But at a recent conference in Dhaka, the Rohingya people were, for the first time, given a voice. Their message was clear: they do not want more aid. They need to go home. China is well placed to help make that happen.
For years, international aid helped to maintain this stasis. But the recent funding collapse at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has left families with fewer rations and less access to humanitarian support. The conversation must move away from aid flows and towards a permanent solution.
Without a political solution that ensures their safe and dignified return to Myanmar, the crisis could trigger further unrest in the Bay of Bengal. This is where China has both the capacity and incentive to act. Rakhine state is not only central to Rohingya identity, but also to the interests of China’s economic and strategic development.
The Kyaukphyu deep-sea port, along with the oil and gas pipelines that traverse Rakhine, are integral parts of the Belt and Road Initiative. These projects are designed to enhance connectivity between China and the Indian Ocean, reducing reliance on the congested Malacca Strait.
Yet their long-term success depends on stability in Rakhine. Unrest and refugee outflows could continue to disrupt these projects. That’s why Rohingya repatriation is both a humanitarian and economic imperative.

Equally, my home country of Bangladesh cannot go on hosting a million refugees indefinitely. Our domestic revolution and the ratcheting international trade wars have already sent reverberations through our economy.
Regardless of our recent economic shocks, Bangladesh is still emerging as one of South Asia’s most dynamic economies with growing markets for infrastructure, technology and consumer goods. China is already a crucial trade partner. Facilitating the safe, long-term return of the Rohingya people could help to cement China’s role not only as an investor, but also as a force of diplomatic stability.
So what would a solution to the Rohingya crisis look like? After the high-level conference at the UN General Assembly this week, we must translate words into action. I propose the formation of a permanent commission that could broker the safe and steady return of the Rohingya people.
China is well placed to facilitate a permanent commission that includes Bangladesh, Myanmar’s State Administration Council, the United States, the UNHCR refugee agency and, critically, representatives of the Rohingya people. The mandate would be to design a phased plan for return, ensuring security guarantees, humanitarian protections and economic reintegration.
Economic investment in Rakhine would be a central pillar of such a plan. Infrastructure, schools, hospitals and livelihood programmes could create the conditions for safe cultural integration. This approach could provide both Myanmar’s local population and the Rohingya with the confidence that repatriation benefits all parties.
While repatriation will not be easy, history suggests it is possible. For example, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission could be the basis for a blueprint for how such repatriation could occur. Adapted to local realities, it could help Rakhine communities to build trust, acknowledge grievances and imagine a shared future.

China’s reputation as a development partner, combined with its principle of non-interference, gives it the credibility to facilitate such a commission. In doing so, Beijing could help to facilitate the settlement that has eluded the West.
The reduction of American aid highlighted waning US influence in the region. Despite this, a collaboration with the US would signal that China is committed to a managed rivalry that can still overcome humanitarian challenges. China has the opportunity to show that its commitment to stable prosperity is not limited to infrastructure and trade, but extends to resolving the human challenges that underpin regional security.
For the Rohingya, the only durable solution is to return to Rakhine with dignity, safety and opportunity. For Bangladesh, resolving the crisis is essential for national stability and economic development. For China, repatriation would safeguard belt and road projects, strengthen ties with neighbours and showcase a model of constructive regional leadership.
The West has provided stopgaps, not solutions. China now has the chance to show that real development is achieved through long-term strategy, not short-term bandages.


Malaysia to invite Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing for Rohingya repatriation talks

Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say

Hated in Myanmar, feted abroad? President inches towards normality with Thailand trip

Malaysia’s ‘shocking’ deal to return 5,000 Rohingya to Myanmar triggers refoulement fears

Rohingya Muslims

Why China should lead commission for a phased Rohingya repatriation

A security officer attempts to control Rohingya refugees waiting to receive aid in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 21, 2017. The persecution of the Rohingya Muslims that year forced more than a million of them to flee and seek refuge in other countries. Photo: Reuters

Rohingya refugees hold placards and paintings at a protest rally inside a refugee camp to mark the eighth anniversary of their exodus, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on August 25. Photo: Reuters

Rohingya refugees try to take shelter from torrential rain as they are held by Bangladesh’s border guards after illegally crossing the border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, on August 31, 2017. Photo: Reuters 

Asean’s failure to meet Myanmar junta over election shows its ‘limited leverage’

The Asean summit held in Kuala Lumpur on May 26. The bloc has yet to discuss with Myanmar about its general election plan. Photo: AFP

Members of Myanmar’s Union Election Commission gather in Yangon in 2023 to observe voting machines to be used in future elections. Photo: AFP

Members of ethnic rebel group Ta’ang National Liberation Army take part in a training exercise at their base camp in Myanmar’s Shan State in 2023. The country remains embroiled in a bloody civil war. Photo: AFP 

India’s ‘short-sighted’ Myanmar diplomacy imperils Asean’s peace plans

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing (left) on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on August 31. Photo: by Indian Press Information Bureau / AFP

Myanmar soldiers pose in front of a captured fire station in the eastern state of Kayah, which the junta said it recaptured from resistance forces last month. Photo: Myanmar Military/AP

Burmese activists gather in London, Britain last month to protest against Myanmar’s military junta. Photo: EPA

Myanmar soldiers parade in Naypyidaw during a ceremony to mark the country’s Armed Forces Day in March. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Modi speaks with Myanmar’s junta chief during their bilateral meeting on August 31. Photo: Indian Press Information Bureau / AFP

Why plans by India and US to tap Myanmar’s rare earths are fraught with risks

A worker drilling holes into the side of a mountain in the Kachin state of Myanmar to mine rare earth minerals. Photo: Global Witness/AP

Soldiers with the Kachin Independence Army prepare for a mass funeral to bury victims of a military strike on a camp for displaced people near the northern Myanmar town of Laiza in 2023. Photo: AFP

A rare earth mine being dug into the side of a mountain in Pangwa, Kachin, Myanmar. Photo: Global Witness/AP

Samples of rare earth minerals. China, the world’s largest exporter of rare earth minerals, may thwart any moves by the US and India to extract such minerals from Myanmar, analysts say. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia’s Prabowo poised to offer world a new, pragmatic road map

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto gestures during his first state of the nation address at the People’s Consultative Assembly on August 15. He is due to deliver a highly anticipated address at the 80th UN General Assembly in September. Photo: Xinhua

Sukarno addressing a rally of 200,000 people in Macassar on January 1, 1940, demanding independence from the Netherlands. Photo: AFP

Opinion

China Opinion

Asia Opinion

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

South Asia

Diplomacy

China

World

United States & Canada

Given its Rakhine interests and diplomatic clout, Beijing could oversee a plan for return, ensuring security, rights and economic reintegration


Given its Rakhine interests and diplomatic clout, Beijing could oversee a plan for return, ensuring security, rights and economic reintegration.


Myanmar

Bangladesh

Myanmar’s changing ties with China

Belt and Road Initiative

Belt and Road: Comment

Belt and Road: The projects

Belt and Road: The nations

Infrastructure in Asia

Infrastructure

United Nations General Assembly

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Why China should lead commission for a phased Rohingya repatriation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Given its Rakhine interests and diplomatic clout, Beijing could oversee a plan for return, ensuring security, rights and economic reintegration

Given its Rakhine interests and diplomatic clout, Beijing could oversee a plan for return, ensuring security, rights and economic reintegration