The BNP Chairperson said she was ready for talks and that future political development would depend on the government’s actions.
She told the envoy acting BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam could sit across the table to decide the outline of “a non-party neutral government”.
In 2006 before the end of the BNP-led government, the then BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil held several rounds of abortive talks to ward off political calamity.
But the crisis deepened to make way for a state of emergency, putting the country under two years of camouflaged military rule.
There are fears that the nation is hurtling towards a similar fate this time again since the BNP has threatened an election boycott if it was to be held under a partisan government.
China is also concerned about the direction Bangladesh may take amid rising political tension and stepped up efforts to broker a deal although it traditionally avoids interference in internal affairs of other countries.
Last August, the Ambassador at a press briefing called for ‘face-to-face’ dialogue between the two top leaders of the arch-rivals and said he was trying to hold dialogue using his good friends in both parties.
According to the talking points the Chinese mission sent, the Chinese envoy expressed his concern on the current political deadlock in Bangladesh ‘as a friend’.
He pointed out to Khaleda that he found similarities on the position of both parties that the coming election should be held ‘free, fair and inclusive’.
He also said that the top leaders also had shown their willingness to resolve the dispute through discussion.
The envoy met with the opposition leader when people fear that violence looms large as the current government’s tenure is coming to an end shortly.
During Monday’s hour-long meeting that started at around 8.40pm, the Ambassador tried to know BNP’s position on the upcoming elections and some regional issues including terrorism. He also communicated Beijing’s thoughts about Bangladesh and the region as a whole.
Khaleda told the envoy that as a ‘time-tested and sincere friend’, China was an important development partner for Bangladesh.
She referred to her speech in a Sylhet public rally and said “I have publicly expressed my openness to China’s involvement in Bangladesh’s economic development”.
“We hope China could increase her investment in Bangladesh and establish an export processing zone”.
The Chinese envoy said his country was “restructuring its economy and pushing forward all-dimensional reforms, this will create a huge market opportunity for the world and more Chinese enterprises will invest abroad”.
He said the proposal of China-India-Myanmar-Bangladesh economic corridor, which includes projects like Sonadia deep-sea port, will help Bangladesh turn its geological advantage to economic and social competitiveness, and make Bangladesh a regional hub linking South Asia, Southeast Asia and China.
The envoy also hoped that the BNP’s future programmes particularly after Oct 25, after when countdown to the election will begin, would be peaceful.
Khaleda replied that the BNP did not believe in violence. “We have always been conducting programmes in peaceful ways,” she told Li.
On war crimes issues, she said the BNP wanted that “the trials should be fair and follow internationally accepted standards”.
China as a ‘multi-ethnic and multi-religious’ country also laid importance on different ethnic groups and people of different religions living in peace and mutual respect in Bangladesh.
The BNP leader, whose allies are mostly Islamist hardliners, said “letting people of different ethnic groups and different religion to live in harmony have always been a major objective of the BNP”.
“No matter what one person may believe in, that person is Bangladeshi citizen.”
The former Prime Minister also said that if the BNP regained power in the next election “we will exercise zero tolerance to terrorism”.
As Chinese envoy highlighted the importance of stable environment for a country’s development, the BNP Chairperson said her party would like to develop “peaceful, equal and cooperative relationship with India and Myanmar”.
Khaleda also stressed that economic development, infrastructure building, investment promotion and education will be the policy priorities of the BNP, according to the media release.