BNP protests Chinese envoy’s remark on democracy in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has expressed discontent over recent remarks of Chinese ambassador Ji Liming on Bangladesh’s democracy.
BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi sent a statement to the media on Saturday and expressed dissatisfaction over the ambassador remarks.
“BNP has noticed a recent video message of the Chinese ambassador. Like all the other democracy-loving people of the country, we have become surprised and angered by his observation and comments on Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s current illegal government.”
“The core values of Bangladesh, which gained its independence through sacrifice and lives of thousands of martyrs, is democracy, equality, human rights and social justice. The people of the country are deeply saddened and angered by the remarks of China in support of the current fascist government at a time when they are running the country without people’s mandate and stripping away those rights, while the people of the country are vocal to get back their democratic rights and while all global pro-democracy forces and human rights bodies are warning the incumbent government,” the BNP statement reads.
He said the current government has destroyed democracy and snatched away people’s voting rights.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said it is China’s internal matter as to how would they govern their own country but the people of Bangladesh have been practising their rights through a transparent election and exercising their voting rights historically.
He hoped China would stand beside the people of Bangladesh in the interest of relations between two friendly nations rather than taking the side of the government.
The Chinese ambassador in his video on the embassy’s Facebook page raised questions about the democracy summit organised by US president Joe Biden. He said half the population of the world has raised questions about the invitees of the summit.
The ambassador also asked if the US is eligible to define democracy.
“If a country with a government that enjoys elevated levels of public support is not recognized as a democracy, maybe it’s time to either rethink the definition of democracy or to question the intention behind this definition,” Ji Liming said in the video message.
Ji Liming also said Bangladesh has achieved huge progress in socio-economic development and democracy.