The Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh warned Thursday that Chinese citizens who travel to Bangladesh should raise their safety awareness after receiving calls for help from Chinese workers claiming they were detained in the country.
The Chinese workers who went to Bangladesh for work in equipment maintenance and installation claimed that they were detained for several days or even months by their local trading partners over product quality issues and poorly maintaining equipment, the embassy said in a statement on its website on Thursday.
The statement warned that Chinese citizens should travel with companions, make hotel reservations appropriately and inform family and friends of their contact information before visiting Bangladesh, reminding people to seek help from the embassy and police if their freedom are violated due to any dispute.
The embassy said it has promptly provided the citizens assistance to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic visit to Bangladesh last year, establishing the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.
Exports from Bangladesh to China have been rising, boosted by reduced tariffs on certain goods, from $180 million in 2010 to $949 million in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, latest data from Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) showed.
On November 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, and expressed China's willingness to continuously work with Bangladesh to support each other on their respective core interests and major concerns, as well as to deepen the China-Bangladesh strategic cooperative partnership.
Wang stressed that both sides should accelerate the construction of the Road and Belt initiative and actively push for the building of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
He added that China will continue encouraging and supporting Chinese enterprises to participate in the national construction of Bangladesh as well as to provide assistance to Bangladesh to help the country develop.
