Chinese envoy slams former Maldivian President, denies debt 'trap-making'

Chinese envoy slammed former Maldivian President on December 14 for saying that 'Maldives-China FTA is dead'. During an interview with a media outlet, former Maldivian President and speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed said that the Chinese government needs to restructure the debt accrued in the island nation.

Angered by the remarks, Chinese envoy to the Maldives, Ambassador Zhang Lizhong said in a series of tweets that 'China is a contributor' and ' not a trap maker'. Zhang also said that Beijing's investment in the Maldives is similar to the approach of other nations and not a trap for debt. 

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Nasheed's statements on China

Previously in September,  Nasheed lashed out and compared China to the East India Company. He accused Bejing of grabbing more land than the East India Company ever did without firing a bullet. In his address to the Indian Ocean Conference in Male, the former President accused his previous Government, under Abdulla Nasheen, of putting the country in deep debt in collusion with China. 

“Get a hold of the government, buy up a parliament, change the laws, get unsolicited contracts then inflate the price of the contract to the level due to which business plans failed here. Give commercial loans and then, off course, they will not be able to pay it back. When you can’t pay it back, they ask for equity; and with equity, you relinquish sovereignty, including the peace of the Indian Ocean. I am referring to China,” Nasheed said describing China's modus operandi. 

Nasheed served as the fourth president of Maldives from 2008 to 2012. He was the country’s first democratically elected president, ending the three decades rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed was unanimously chosen to head the country’s Parliament or People’s Majlis in May, by his Maldivian Democratic Party after it won a near three-quarter majority in the 87-member assembly in April.

Until November, the former president was in exile. He returned after the Supreme Court cleared him of Terrorism charges imposed by the previous regime. 

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