Data map: On November 17, 2018, in Male, the capital of the Maldives, the new President of the Maldives Solih spoke at a special session of parliament. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Ruiqing
The results of the Maldives parliamentary election were officially announced on the 10th local time. The election was one-sided in favor of the current president Solih, which means that former President Yameen lost the opportunity to make a comeback through the parliamentary election. Yameen has always been regarded by the outside world as holding a "pro-China" stance. Regarding his party's electoral defeat, some foreign media interpreted it as "the Maldives will further seek to distance itself from China." In this regard, Saleh's adviser and former Maldives President Nasheed's spokesperson told the " Global Times " reporter on the 10th that such "either-or" remarks about are naive.
According to local media reports, Saleh’s Maldives Democratic Party won 65 of the 87 seats in the parliament in the election held on the 6th, more than two-thirds of the total. The BBC analyzed that this result will consolidate the comeback process of the country's former President Nasheed. Nasheed served as President of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012. During Yameen's administration, he was accused of committing "terrorism crimes" and went into exile in Sri Lanka in 2016. In 2018, Saleh defeated Yameen as president, and Nasheed, his political ally, was able to return to Maldivian politics. , and serves as its advisor.
Regarding this parliamentary election, some foreign media have been emphasizing that Nasheed had repeatedly made anti-China remarks in 2018, saying that he would "thoroughly investigate" Chinese-funded projects. Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" said that the Maldives will further seek to distance itself from China. But in fact, the Maldives Democratic Party did not mention China in its public remarks during the parliamentary elections.
Nasheed’s spokesman Hamid Ghafoor said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on the 10th: “The statements made by these foreign media are incorrect. After the change of term, the Maldives government stated that it would repay Chinese loans, and from The Maldives government has not made any request to China to downgrade or stop existing Chinese-funded projects. The Maldives government has used legal channels to collect the stolen money from corruption during the tenure of former President Yameen. This move is not aimed at China," Ghafoor said. In efforts to rebuild the country, against this background, China-Malaysia cooperation is shifting from large-scale infrastructure construction projects to international trade, tourism development and other fields.
Maldives Foreign Minister Shahid recently told The Hindu that "China has always been a good friend of the Maldives" and "a foreign policy that has to choose sides among friends cannot go very far." Russian Satellite Network quoted scholars as saying that "no other country can provide the development funds that China has given to the Maldives." The United States recently tried to play the role of a substitute, "but this support is not that serious." (Global Times special correspondent in Sri Lanka Li Yajun)
