News Desk
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has extended Lunar New Year greetings to China’s President Xi Jinping, casting the message as a reflection of the “friendship and cooperation” that have shaped the countries’ increasingly close relationship.
Posting on X, President Muizzu offered “heartfelt greetings” to President Xi, Premier Li Qiang, the Chinese leadership and the Chinese people as they marked the Spring Festival. He invoked the symbolism of the Year of the Fire Horse — long associated with ambition and resilience — to frame what he described as China’s “remarkable heights of development”.
He added that he hoped the coming year would bring “even brighter days ahead” for the Chinese people. “May the long‑standing excellent ties of friendship and cooperation between the Maldives and China continue to flourish for the common benefit of both countries and their peoples,” the message concluded.
The greeting comes at a moment of intensifying engagement between Malé and Beijing. In January, the two governments signed an implementation agreement for the China–Maldives Friendship Hospital, a grant‑funded 112‑bed facility planned for Vilimale. The project is part of a wider assistance package announced in late 2025, which includes an RMB 600 million development cooperation grant earmarked for infrastructure, health and local governance initiatives.
Official budget documents show that China is expected to provide about 81 per cent of all bilateral grants to the Maldives in 2026, underscoring Beijing’s expanding role as a development partner at a time when the country is grappling with fiscal pressures and external debt obligations.
