Beijing: China on Monday congratulated Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) which has secured an absolute majority in Sunday’s Parliament polls and expressed its willingness to deepen the “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” between the two countries.
Muizzu-led PNC won 68 out of 93 seats in Sunday’s polls and its coalition partners Maldives National Party (MNP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) won one and two
seats, respectively, which is more than two-thirds of the Parliament, landing the party an easy supermajority with the power to amend the Constitution.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), led by former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who is seen as a pro-India leader, won only 15 seats this time.
The parliamentary majority for the PNC would give Muizzu the legislative backing to shape the foreign policy of the strategically
placed archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean geographically located close to India’s southern coast.
Commenting on the PNC’s victory, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here that Beijing wants to congratulate the Maldives on the successful parliament election and respect the choice made by the people.
“China stands ready to work with the Maldives to carry forward traditional friendship, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, deepen China-Maldives comprehensive strategic
cooperative partnership and speed up the building of a China-Maldives community with a shared future to deliver greater benefits to our two peoples,” he said.