Beijing, April 22: China on Monday congratulated Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) which has secured an absolute majority in Sunday’s Parliament polls and expressed its willingness to deepen the “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” between the two countries.
Commenting on the PNC’s victory, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here that Beijing wants to congratulate the Maldives on the successful parliament election and respect the choice made by the people.
“China stands ready to work with the Maldives to carry forward traditional friendship, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, deepen China-Maldives comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and speed up the building of a China-Maldives community with a shared future to deliver greater benefits to our two peoples,” he said.
Ever since his election as President in October last year, Muizzu, who defeated the pro-India incumbent Solih, moved closer to China signing what the two countries term as a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” besides 20 agreements to assist Maldives infrastructure after meeting with President Xi Jinping here in January.
China also announced a USD 130 million grant besides promising to send more Chinese tourists to the tourism-dependent Maldives. (PTI)
