Khairul Alam: The US believes that Bangladesh is under the ‘grievance’ of China. Two representatives of the US Congress have directly asked the government about this.
In a meeting with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday (August 13), Members of Congress Ed Case and Richard McCormack asked about China.
After the meeting, the Foreign Minister said, “He said about China that you are going inside China.” We said no, we are not going to China. About one percent of our debt is from China. It’s not a big deal.’
He said, “They (Members of Congress) have been told by many people that Bangladesh is a terrible place. They have come under the grip of China. China has become a slave. It is a terrible place, where there is unrest and the police are arresting and killing people from time to time.
The US wants to know if there is ‘some way to settle’: When asked whether the Congressmen have said anything about the BNP movement, the External Affairs Minister said the US was not offering any ‘formula’ and wanted to know ‘if there is any way to compromise’.
We have said that we are not likely to agree to their demand that the government should fall and then elections should be held.
He asked the delegates, “Will the government in your country fall during the elections?” Not at all. Do you discuss such claims? No way. …We will conduct elections according to our system of governance and we want everyone to participate in them. It will depend on the people who will win or not.