China says 'firmly opposes external interference' in Maldives as Muizzu winds up visit

China on Thursday said that it firmly opposes external interference in the internal affairs of the Maldives and supports the island nation in upholding its sovereignty and independence as Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu concluded his maiden visit here amid a diplomatic row with IndiaThe two sides agree to continue firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their respective core interests said a joint statement issued at the end of Muizzus talks with the top Chinese leadersChina firmly supports the Maldives in upholding its national sovereignty independence and national dignity respects and supports the Maldives exploration of a development path that suits its national conditions and firmly opposes external interference in the internal affairs of the Maldives it said without referring to any countryThe statement comes at a time when Maldives headed by Muizzu who is regarded as a proChina leader was involved in a diplomatic row with India over derogatory statements made by three Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading to a spate of cancellation of reservations of Indian tourists to MaldivesMuizzu suspended the ministers with a warning not to make such remarksHis visit to China is also marred by the release of a report by the EU Election Observation Mission of Maldives that said the ruling coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives and the Peoples National Congress deployed antiIndia sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation in the 2023 presidential polls in which Muizzu wonAlso read Amid row with India Maldives President arrives in China to strengthen tiesAccording to the joint statement Muizzu agreed to back Xis doctrines Global Security Initiative GSI which advocates for joint security besides Global Development Initiative GDI Global Civilization Initiative GCI and the Belt and Road Initiative BRIThe two sides agree to explore ways towards implementing the GSI in the efforts to deepen cooperation in law enforcement and jointly meet key challenges including those posed by traditional and nontraditional security challenges to promote the development of bilateral relations and contribute to peace and stability at regional and global levels the statement saidThe Maldives highly appreciates the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind the BRI the principle of promoting amity sincerity mutual benefit and inclusiveness with neighboring countriesiquest it saidThe Maldives intends to join the Group of Friends of the GDI and work with other parties to promote practical cooperation in areas identified by the GDI so as to create synergy for accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development it addedFor its part Maldives said in the joint statement that it is firmly committed to the oneChina principle recognising that there is but one China in the world the Government of the Peoples Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territoryIt added that the Maldives opposes any statement or action that undermines Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity opposes all Taiwan independence separatist activities and will not develop any form of official relations with TaiwanThe Maldives opposes external interference in Chinas internal affairs under any pretext and supports all efforts made by China to achieve national reunification it saidChina and Maldives signed 20 agreements on Wednesday after talks between Muizzu and Chinese President Xi JinpingThe agreements include cooperation in tourism to increase Chinese tourists to the island nation China is currently placed in third position while Indian tourists constitute the highest with over two lakhs last year followed by RussiaThe two sides signed the Action Plan for Building a ChinaMaldives Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership 20242028 and inked documents on cooperation in areas such as the Belt and Road economic and technical blue economy digital economy green development infrastructure construction and assistance for peoples livelihood the joint statement saidThe two sides will actively promote economic and trade cooperation fully leverage the mechanism of ChinaMaldives Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation enhance trade facilitation and promote highquality development of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries it saidThe two sides are satisfied with the outcomes of the visit by President Muizzu to China and agree that the visit is of great significance to advancing the ChinaMaldives comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership it saidSince the establishment of diplomatic ties 52 years ago the two countries have always respected and supported each other it addedPresident Muizzu expressed appreciation for the warm hospitality of President Xi Jinping the Chinese Government and the Chinese people and invited Chinese leaders to visit the Maldives at mutually convenient timesiquest it saidMuizzu who arrived in China on January 8 on a fiveday state visit on Thursday held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and discussed the implementation of the various projects China committed to implement He also met Zhao Leji Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Peoples CongressMuizzu and First Lady Sajida Mohammad also visited the Huawei Beijing Convention Centre where representatives from Huawei briefed the president on how these advancements facilitate both governments and individuals in enhancing their daily operations They also visited Tiananmen SquareThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever