China hails 'traditional friendship' with Bangladesh as Sheikh Hasina wins polls amid boycott

​​​​​​By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday hailed the “traditional friendship" with neighboring Bangladesh just as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to take oath after weekend elections, wholly boycotted by the opposition parties.

“Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 49 years ago,” Xi said in an official statement, “the two countries have respected each other, treated each other as equals, and shared mutual benefits.”​​​​​​​

Hasina is set to take oath as prime minister for a record fifth time after her party's landslide victory.

The Bangladesh Election Commission on Monday announced the unofficial results of 298 of the country's 300 parliamentary seats.

Of the total, the Awami League party won 223 seats, its ally Jatiya Party 11, independent candidates won 61 seats and the rest were bagged by other parties.

The weekend polls held in the South Asian nation saw a boycott by the opposition parties which called it a “dummy election” while the US said the polls “were not free or fair.”

Xi and Hasina met last August in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Chinese president called on the two sides to “deepen political mutual trust, carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen the synergy of development strategies, enhance Belt and Road cooperation with high quality, and continuously push China-Bangladesh strategic cooperative partnership to new levels.”