Chinese Ambassador to Maldives Zhang Lizhong met with Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed at the Parliament Secretariat on Tuesday.
Following the meeting, Lizhong tweeted that he provided updates on the latest progress on COVID-19 and China's efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
He further noted that Nasheed "emphasises the need for sympathy and support to China at this special time" and expressed hope to win the fight against the disease.
Pleased to meet with HE Speaker @MohamedNasheed to update China's tremendous effort to contain the COVID19 and latest progress.
— Amb. Zhang Lizhong (@AmbassadorZhang) February 18, 2020
Mr Speaker emphasizes the need of sympathy & support to China at this special time & hope to win the combat earlier.@ibusolih@abdulla_shahid pic.twitter.com/pEUI6sa0qe
This is the first time Nasheed met with the Chinese Ambassador after heated exchanges on Twitter over Nasheed's statement about the Maldivian debt to China.
The Speaker had claimed that the debt reached up to USD 3.4 million, a statement that was rejected by Lizhong, who affirmed the debt to be USD 1.5 billion.
A large chunk of the development projects in former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's administration was funded by free-aid and loan-aid from China.
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