At an “Invest Maldives” forum in a southern Chinese port city, the Maldivian president shook hands and exchanged words with smiling local officials on a China visit set to deepen bilateral ties as the nation pirouettes away from India.
After the forum in Fuzhou yesterday, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and his delegation were to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing during his week-long visit, where pacts from infrastructure to tourism are expected to be signed.
Muizzu became president in November last year after winning on his “India Out” campaign platform under which he called New Delhi’s huge influence a threat to sovereignty. His government has since asked dozens of locally based Indian military personnel to leave and in an apparent snub to India, Muizzu is in China this week, before any visit to his nation’s giant neighbor.
Photo: Reuters
In Fuzhou, the Chinese city designated as the start of China’s maritime “Silk Road,” Muizzu said China remained one of his nation’s “closest allies and developmental partners,” a statement released by his office said.
Increasing export of fish products to China under the two nations’ free-trade agreement would be a key priority, Muizzu added.
Fishing is the largest source of employment in the Maldives, where 99 percent of its territory comprises the sea. Aquatic products account for more than 98 percent of exports by volume and value.
China has already built a presence for itself in the Maldives. Under Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative aimed at building a global trade and infrastructure network, China has helped expand Velana International Airport in Male and built the cross-sea China-Maldives Friendship Bridge.
Muizzu said his government was keen to explore partnerships under the Belt and Road Initiative, including the expansion of the nation’s central airport and commercial port.
Chinese firms have invested US$1.37 billion in the Maldives since its decision to join the initiative in 2014, American Enterprise Institute think tank data shows.
China National Machinery Industry Corp last year invested US$140 million in the Maldives’ tourism sector, which accounts for more than one-quarter of the nation’s national income.
Chinese tourists in 2019 accounted for 19.7 percent of foreign visitors, making them the biggest tourist group, although they slipped to third position by 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Maldives is also a popular destination among Indian nationals, whose presence has grown more prominent in the three years when China’s austere pandemic restrictions kept Chinese visitors away.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week was snorkeling in Lakshadweep, an archipelago of atolls and reefs off the coast of Kerala, a visit that some viewed as an attempt to draw tourists away from the nearby Maldives.
“India’s strained relations with certain countries in South Asia can be attributed to its perception of being the regional boss,” China’s Global Times reported on Monday, citing analysts.
Quoting a Chinese academic, it said India’s current “nervousness” about Muizzu’s visit to China showed its “lack of confidence.”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS