New Delhi: The Maldivian government on Thursday reiterated that it is firmly committed to the one-China principle, recognising that there is but one China in the world, said a joint press communique following the meeting between Maldivian President Muizzu and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Maldivian President is on an official state visit to China. During the visit, President Mohamed Muizzu held talks with President Xi Jinping and had meetings with Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council, and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. His visit comes amid the diplomatic spat between India and Maldives.
The leaders of the two countries had in-depth exchanges of views on reinforcing China-Maldives traditional friendship and deepening friendly cooperation and reached an extensive consensus.
The joint press statement released after the meeting between the two leaders, said, "The Maldivian government is firmly committed to the one-China principle, recognising that there is but one China in the world. Government of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory".
It noted that the Maldives opposes any statement or action that undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, opposes all "Taiwan independence" separatist activities, and will not develop any form of official relations with Taiwan. The Maldives opposes external interference in China's internal affairs under any pretext and supports all efforts made by China to achieve national reunification, the statement said.
During the Maldivian President visit, the two leaders agreed to focus on pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in the efforts to better synergize their development strategies, fully implement the Global Development Initiative (GDI), and further enhance the level and quality of cooperation, and strengthen practical cooperation in green development, digital economy, blue economy, and other fields, to achieve mutual benefits and common development.
They reaffirmed their commitment to actively promote economic and trade cooperation, fully leverage the mechanism of the China-Maldives Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation, enhance trade facilitation, and promote high-quality development of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
Further, the Maldives conveyed its appreciation for the long-standing, selfless help extended by China for the economic and social development of the Maldives.
China expressed its readiness to continue providing support for the Maldives to the best of its capability in areas that the Maldives deems as priorities, including infrastructure construction, medical service and health, improvement of people's livelihood, new energy, agriculture, and protection of the marine environment.
The two sides agreed to focus on implementing the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) in the efforts to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in improving people's well-being.
Both China and Maldives intended to continue exchanges and cooperation in such areas as science and technology, culture, tourism, education, sports, civil aviation, personnel training, health, scientific and technological innovation, affairs related to women, youth, and people with disabilities, press and publication, radio, film and television, people-to-people ties, and subnational cooperation.
The two sides also agreed to explore ways towards implementing the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in the efforts to deepen cooperation in law enforcement and jointly meet key challenges including those posed by traditional and non-traditional security challenges, to promote the development of bilateral relations and contribute to peace and stability at regional and global levels.
Furthermore, to India's disappointment, the Maldives highly appreciated 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 countries, the GDI, the GSI, and the GCI, which are put forth by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
During the visit, the two sides signed the Action Plan between China and Maldives for Building a China-Maldives Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership (2024-2028) and documents on cooperation in such areas as Belt and Road cooperation, economic and technical cooperation, blue economy, digital economy, green development, infrastructure construction, and assistance for people's livelihood.
Muizzu's visit to China is seen as an attempt to break away from the tradition of visiting India first as its closest neighbor. His predecessors have all visited India first and then to other countries. Currently, the India-Maldives ties are not in great shape given the derogatory remarks made by some of the former Maldivian Ministers against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tension has been brewing between India and Maldives for the past few months after President Muizzu assumed power.
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