Chinese defence minister suspends visit to Dhaka

Chinese Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe has suspended his visit to Dhaka that was scheduled for this week.

"The visit will take place at a mutually convenient time. Suspension of the Chinese minister's visit is not anything extraordinary. This can happen," a foreign ministry official told The Daily Star today.

Asked for the agenda of Wei Fenghe's visit, he said an agenda was not specified, however, defence cooperation is generally an issue as Bangladesh buys major military hardware from China.

The Chinese minister visited Nepal on Sunday, in the highest level visit from China since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to Nepal in October last year on a two-day visit, Kathmandu Post reported.

During his daylong stay in Kathmandu, Wei called on Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, paid a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, and held talks with Chief of the Nepal Army, General Purna Chandra Thapa.

The high-level visit from China, two days after Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla's Nepal visit concluded on Friday, came when the ruling Nepal Communist Party is mired in an internal conflict.

Quoting sources, Kathmandu Post reported, Wei will visit Bangladesh and Pakistan after completing his Nepal visit.

A Bangladesh foreign ministry source said it was not confirmed that the Chinese minister's visit to Dhaka would take place immediately after his Nepal visit.

He could not say for sure if the suspension of Wei Fenghe's visit was related to the fact that Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen are currently Covid-19 positive.