Understanding Bangladesh-China Bilateral Relations and Strategic Issues: A Case Study of Rohingya Refugee Crisis

This paper attempts to examine the strategic role of China in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis and Bangladesh-China bilateral relations and strategic issues. The Rohingya is an ethnic minority group in Myanmar. They have been facing all kinds of state-sponsored oppressive policies in Myanmar. The humanitarian catastrophe has broken all other records relating to human crisis which is named by the UN as ‘the textbook example of ethnic cleansing’. In spite of international condemnation of military-led ethnic cleansing, this raises the question of whether China, being an emerging global superpower, intends to preserve peace and stability. The study is qualitative in nature and based on descriptive and narrative methods. The major findings of the study illustrate that China’s stance on the Rohingya crisis in terms of bilateral engagement between China-Bangladesh relations to find a solution. China has massive financial investments and strategic interests covering the Rakhine state of Myanmar. However, this chapter covers how China played the role of mediator between Myanmar and Bangladesh, despite having a non-interference policy and explores the prospect of China playing a positive role in the Rohingya repatriation process in the near future.