There is no doubt that history will remember the first president to visit China in 2024, the new president of the Maldives, Muiz. On the day of Muiz's visit to China, a 21-gun salute was fired in Tiananmen Square, salutes were paraded, and the military band played the national anthems of China and Malaysia. The scene was cheerful and enthusiastic.
The fruitful results of Moiz's visit to China have not only broadened new channels for bilateral cooperation, but also agreed to upgrade China-Malaysia relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
Moreover, before and after the Malaysian side's visit to China, there are actually three major details worth noting, and these details show that the high-level reception given by the Chinese side to the Malaysian side is completely worthwhile and not wrongly paid.
(President Muiz of Maldives)
In fact, as soon as Muiz got off the plane, the details were reflected as soon as they got off the plane, and the first stop of the Malaysian side was not Beijing, China, but Xiamen, Fujian, China. Together with his wife, Muiz visited the Xiamen Free Trade Zone under the guidance of the Chinese side.
So why do most leaders choose to visit China in Beijing, while Muiz chooses Xiamen?
In fact, there is a story here, as early as 2017, China and Malaysia signed a free trade zone agreement, which opened the door to convenient product exchanges between the two countries. However, after the previous president of the Maldives, the "pro-India faction" Saleh came to power, the Maldives unilaterally tore up the agreement, which made the business cooperation between the Maldives and China fall into a difficult situation for a while.
Therefore, this time, Muiz chose to come to Xiamen as the first stop, to draw an end to the regrets between the two countries, and to continue to write a new chapter in the cooperation between China and Malaysia.
Of course, there are other considerations for choosing Xiamen, because Xiamen is an important tourist city in China, and it has a common topic with the Maldives in the development of tourism, which is also a rare opportunity to deepen exchanges and share experiences, strengthen cooperation and jointly develop tourism projects, and jointly leverage the tourism economy of China and Malaysia.
In addition, the Maldives is one of the South Asian countries that actively participate in the "Belt and Road" initiative, and many years ago China and Malaysia also held a seminar on the theme of "The Belt and Road" in Xiamen, which can also be regarded as the starting point of China-Malaysia cooperation in various aspects.
(Muiz and his wife visit the Fujian Provincial Museum)
The second detail is the dispute between the Maldives and India. In fact, as soon as Muiz officially took office, he asked the Indian side to withdraw its troops from the Maldives. And Muiz put the visit to China before the visit to India. At the time, the Indian media described Muiz as a "pro-China" president.
Subsequently, Indian Prime Minister Modi went to India's Lakshadweep Islands in advance before Muiz left for China, and issued a high-profile article to promote the local natural scenery and cultural customs. This made many Maldivian officials unable to sit still, believing that India was blatantly stealing tourists from the Maldives. As a result, three Maldivian officials made personal attacks on Modi himself, and compared India to "cow dung". In fact, it is not advisable for the Malaysian side to do this. But Muiz has been quite sensible in handling the matter, suspending the three officials involved and minimizing the impact of the matter.
From this incident, we can see that Muiz does not recognize the label of "pro-China", and that Muiz's visit to China is mainly driven by the interests of the Maldives itself, and the so-called "pro-China" theory is difficult to establish. And he does not want to damage the relationship between the Maldives and India, and he should not let the evaluation of Sino-Indian relations be lowered because of the Maldives, after all, China and India also cooperate and are both BRICS countries. This also shows that under the leadership of Muiz, the Maldives is not only an independent and sovereign country, but also has to actively and properly handle the tripartite relations between China, India and the Maldives.
(Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi dives in Lakshadweep Islands)
Detail 3: In this meeting between China and Malaysia, the Malaysian side mentioned 2 firmness and 3 thanks. The Maldivian side firmly adheres to the one-China policy. Firmly supporting each other in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is a solid foundation for the sustained and sound development of Malaysia-China relations.
First of all, Muiz specifically mentioned that this year marks the 10th anniversary of China's historic visit to the Maldives, and that China has always provided a lot of valuable assistance to the economic and social development of Maldives, and the Maldivian side is very grateful.
Second, Muiz spoke highly of the cooperation between China and Maldives in the Belt and Road Initiative, for which the Maldivian people have benefited a lot, especially the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, which has become a symbol of friendship between the two peoples.
The third point is that Muiz visited China and witnessed the tremendous achievements of China's development, and during his visit to Fujian, he not only felt the enthusiasm of the Chinese side, but also felt the outstanding leadership of the Chinese side. As for the upgrade of China and Malaysia to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the Malaysian side not only appreciates it, but also looks forward to the next cooperation.
(The "China-Malaysia Friendship Bridge", which symbolizes the friendship between the Chinese and Malaysian peoples)
From an objective point of view, as the new leader of the Maldives, Muiz actively recognized the previous cooperation and regrets between China and Malaysia, and for cooperation, it is to broaden the field and increase the intensity of deepening cooperation, and for the related regrets, it is to "lead by example", personally experience the changes in China's Fujian Xiamen Free Trade Zone, and pass this positive signal to the people in the Maldives, telling everyone that the future of China-Malaysia cooperation is bright.
At the same time, Muiz did not let India become an unstable factor in China-Malaysia cooperation, nor did he do "India-India pro-China" things, but chose a more suitable partner out of the interests and needs of the Maldives itself. All this undoubtedly proves that China has treated Muiz with great courtesy, and the 21-shot salute also represents that the cooperation between China and Malaysia will be deeper and more prosperous in the future.