The Government of China has responded to comments made by former President Mohamed Nasheed saying that the remarks were are fabricated in disregard of facts.
Recently, the former Maldivian President Nasheed made a large number of false remarks in the Indian media to discredit the practical cooperation between China and Maldives and alleged that China engaged in the so-called "land grabbing" of Maldivian islands which undermines the security of the Indian Ocean region.
The cooperation between China and Maldives is in the interests of both sides which cannot be denigrated by one-side individual remarks, Spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in Maldives Counselor Yang Yin assured in a statement. Noting that China has conducted friendly and mutual-beneficial cooperation with current and previous governments of the Maldives, the Spokesperson stated that former President Nasheed himself has the personal experience to the benefits brought by the China-Maldives cooperation to the people of the Maldives. The statement further noted that cooperation like housing projects, Laamu link road already started during the tenure of Nasheed.
The statement of the Chinese Embassy said the false remarks such as "island grabbing", "occupation of land" and "undermining the security of the region" hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and are completely contrary to the actual situation. The Statement cited that public statistics show that in the past 4 years, foreign companies from 30 countries have invested in 124 tourist islands in the Maldives, adding that Chinese companies have planned to invest in no more than 7 tourist islands in the Maldives, ranking sixth among all foreign investments, and accounting for only 5.65% of total number of investment projects. The Embassy with regret informed that the information which Nasheed mentioned is seriously inconsistent with the basic fact.
“China and Maldives have conducted a series of mutually beneficial livelihood projects in the principle of mutual respect and equality. The hardworking Chinese employees work day and night to help the Maldivians further upgrade their infrastructure and improve livelihood so as to realize the mutual benefit and win-win cooperation,” the statement released by the Embassy said.
China lauded the economic and social development of Maldives which has made remarkable progress and the living standards of the people have been improved, stating that these progresses are accepted by the international community including China.
The statement by the Embassy reiterated its belief that Maldivian government, parties and people have the wisdom and capability to stabilize the situation expressing hope that various parties properly resolve the differences through dialogue and negotiation to maintain the nation and the people’s life stable.