By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Thursday called for maintaining peace and stability in the southern American nation of Bolivia, after a failed coup attempt, state media reported.
“As a good friend and partner of Bolivia, China hopes and believes that the Bolivian government is capable of handling the situation appropriately and maintaining peace, stability and development,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
Mao said stability was “in the fundamental and long-term interests of the Bolivian people."
Bolivian authorities arrested a former general who staged a failed coup attempt Wednesday against President Luis Arce.
Juan Jose Zuniga, who was fired earlier this week as commander of the Bolivian Army, "has tried to subvert the constitutional order," said deputy Interior Minister Jhonny Aguilera before Zuniga’s arrest.
Footage on social media showed Zuniga being forced into a police car outside a military barracks to be taken to the prosecutor's office.
The chief prosecutor's office said an investigation has been launched into the coup attempt and the events surrounding it.
The military uprising began on Wednesday afternoon after a tank that carried Zuniga was seen forcibly entering the presidential palace in the city of La Paz.