Dhaka, July 24 - China has expressed support for talks between Dhaka and New Delhi over the proposed construction of Tipaimukh dam in India's Manipur state. The Barak river, on which the dam is to be built, flows from China into India and then goes to Bangladesh.

Visiting Chinese special envoy Zhou Gang, who met the Bangladeshi leadership Thursday, supported the dialogue process, New Age newspaper said Friday.

His response came even as Dhaka prepared to send a team of parliamentarians, officials and a water resource expert to visit the site of the proposed dam.

Team leader Abdur Razzaq announced Thursday that the team would leave without two lawmakers from the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The day witnessed mutual recrimination between leaders of the government and the BNP, each accusing the other for lack of cooperation.

BNP, headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has cast its lot with a section of environmentalists and NGOs opposing the Indian project on the ground that it would deny Bangladesh its share of water and endanger the ecology of the Sylhet region.