UPDATE - China, Maldives upgrade ties, sign 20 pacts

UPDATES WITH DETAILS FROM BILATERAL MEETING, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, INTRO

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China and Maldives Wednesday upgraded bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as the two sides signed at least 20 “key agreements.”

It came after China’s President Xi Jinping hosted his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Muizzu for bilateral talks in Beijing.

Xi and Muizzu co-chaired bilateral talks at the East Hall of the Great Hall of People in the Chinese capital, according to a statement by the presidency.

Muizzu is on a state visit to China from Monday to Friday.

Xi told the Maldivian delegation: “The two countries have always respected and supported each other, setting an example of equal treatment, mutual assistance, and win-win cooperation between countries of different sizes.”

The two heads of state announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Chinese state media reported.

“You are the first foreign head of state I have received this year, and this is also your first state visit to a foreign country since assuming the presidency, which fully reflects the high importance attached by both China and Maldives to the development of bilateral relations," Xi told Muizzu, according to Beijing-based daily Global Times.

The agreements signed aim to improve trade, professional, and socioeconomic development in the Maldives

Muizzu was sworn in as president last November and has since visited Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.

The visit to China comes amid simmering tensions with its northern neighbor India. Male has asked New Delhi to withdraw its soldiers from the Maldives.

Muizzu arrived in the eastern Fujian province on Monday to begin his maiden state visit to China. He reached Beijing Tuesday night.

Addressing a business forum in Fujian, Muizzu described relations with China as “one that has a long history, dating back to the ancient Maritime Silk Road.”

The two sides established diplomatic relations in 1972 and the bilateral trade between the world's second-largest economy and one of the smallest economies hovered around $700 million last year.

“China remains one of our closest allies and development partner,” Muizzu said, adding Maldives was an early party to sign China’s Belt and Road Initiative which was launched in 2014.

The multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure initiative has “delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in the Maldivian history,” he said.