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BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Tuesday called "continuity and stability" in the Maldives after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the leader of an opposition that promised to review Chinese plans, defeated the incumbent president. Abdulla Yameen at an election.
Maldivian President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih arrives in Male, Maldives, on September 24, 2018, with supporters. REUTERS / Ashwa Faheem
China and India clash in the Indian Ocean nation, a chain of palm-fringed islands and atolls, 523 km southwest of the southern tip of India.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang congratulated Solih, saying China respects the choice of the Maldivian people and wants to consolidate its traditional friendship.
"China has always encouraged Chinese companies to invest and operate in the Maldives in accordance with market principles, to play a positive role in the socio-economic development of the Maldives," Geng said at a daily press briefing.
He answered the question of whether China was concerned that the new president might seek to renegotiate the two countries' free trade agreement.
Before the elections, the Maldives opposition said it would consider China's investment in its belt and road infrastructure initiative, partly concerned with the conditions, with experts warning that the archipelago was at risk. to fall into the debt trap.
China partly financed and built an extension of the Maldives International Airport, as well as a bridge linking it to the capital, Malé.
The two countries have benefited from cooperation in the belt and road, Geng said.
"We hope that the Maldives will be able to preserve the continuity and stability of the policies concerned and create good operating conditions for the Chinese companies that work there.
China is willing to work with the Maldives to fully implement the free trade agreement in order to further develop investment and trade cooperation, he added, without elaborating.
Yameen, who had brought the Maldives closer to China since 2013 in a Beijing-backed infrastructure boom, acknowledged his defeat after election officials said Solih, who wants to normalize ties with traditional Allied India, had won.
Report by Ben Blanchard; Written by Christian Shepherd and Alasdair Pal; Edited by Clarence Fernandez
