China's solution to Rakhine crisis practical, constructive

Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet for talks in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, November 19. 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Will finger-pointing and the threat of sanctions help solve the crisis in Myanmar's Rakhine state? Definitely not. Casting accusations at a sovereign government for how it has been handling its domestic affairs is not constructive in helping to navigate what is a complex issue anywhere near to a final settlement.

It is anything but sober-minded to point an accusing finger at any particular party. Whatever the root causes and immediate spark for the crisis, efforts are needed to get the parties involved to the negotiation table. It is important for all involved to realize that nothing could be more conducive to ethnic reconciliation and the well-being of the whole nation than the stability necessary for development in the region.

Being a neighbor and long-time friend, China has proposed a three-step way to resolve the crisis.

The first step is securing a ceasefire and restoring order, which is the precondition for the parties involved to engage in talks.

The second is working out feasible ways to solve the issue through consultations and implement as soon as possible the memorandum of understanding on repatriation signed by Myanmar and Bangladesh on Thursday. These address the current symptoms of the crisis.

The third step, which is development, aims to bring the crisis to a final settlement once and for all.

This is because, aside from historical reasons, poverty is the source of the conflicts between the ethnic groups in the north of the country. If the local economy remains underdeveloped and people there continue to live a hand-to-mouth existence, it will be impossible for reconciliation to be permanent.

China is the last to want its next-door neighbor to be in chaos. And it will do whatever it can to extend a helping hand.

What Myanmar and its people need most are peace, stability and development.

To these ends, Li Zuocheng, the chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, speaking with visiting Myanmar Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday, said China is willing to maintain communication with the Myanmar military to promote peace and stability along the border and is willing to help its neighbor seize the opportunities offered by its development.

China believes that regional stability, with its neighbors in particular, can be better guaranteed by economic growth and social progress, and it has proposed a Y-shaped China-Myanmar Economic Corridor that would advance balanced development across Myanmar, a country that the UN listed as one of the least developed in a report it released on Thursday.

By working with China to build this economic corridor, Myanmar can actively facilitate its domestic development.

The international community should play its part by helping to create the necessary conditions to find a settlement to the current crisis.