Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, Geng Shuang has congratulated the Maldives and President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on his election.

Stating that the general election had been held “smoothly”, Shuang, responding to a question by media commented that the Republic of China respects the choice made by the people of the Maldives and hopes that the Maldives can “maintain stability and development”, following the Elections Commission having announced the preliminary results of the Presidential Election held on Sunday.

The results on Sunday showed that Solih won with 58 percent, leading the votes with 134,616 votes which is the highest a candidate has received in a presidential election in the country. Once in office, he will become the first Maldives President that is not native to the capital city, Male’.

At the press conference on Tuesday, Shuang, a prominent Chinese politician as well as spokesperson, highlighted the “traditional friendship enjoyed” between both nations, going on to mention the “fruitful outcomes” yielded by the recent Belt and Road initiative by the Government of Maldives and China which saw the completion of the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, officially named Sinamale Bridge, as well as the development of the outlying road in the capital city Male’.

“We are willing to work with the Maldives to continue to cement traditional friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation so as to deliver benefits to our two countries and two peoples” said Shuang.

Highlighting that the bilateral relations between China and Maldives have been maintained within a “sound momentum of growth” in recent years, Shuang said that both sides have conducted mutually beneficial cooperation in the development project.

 “As to China's projects and investment in the Maldives, the Chinese side always encourages Chinese enterprises to invest and start businesses in the Maldives in accordance with the market principles and play a positive role in promoting the Maldives' socioeconomic development. We hope that the Maldives can maintain the consistency and stability of relevant policies and create a sound business environment for Chinese enterprises' operations there” said Shuang.

Spokesperson Shuang further expressed his hope to continue working with the Maldives to implement the free trade agreement and “continuously expand bilateral trade and investment cooperation”.

China, which has had a growing impact on the government of incumbent President Abdulla Yameen has been deemed by many as the main cause of soured tied between the small island state and India. While the opposition has always been critical of China’s close friendship with the Maldives, with opposition front runners slamming the development project funded by China. The government of Maldives had drawn heavy criticism from opposition for the free trade agreement, the first of its kind to be signed in December 2017, between Maldives and China.

However, Spokesperson Shuang does not seem to be concerned with the election of Solih as President, as such he stated that China will be willing to continue to “deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the Maldives so as to deliver benefits” to both nations and its people.