Aerial photo taken on March 24, 2022 shows a bridge built by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) in Hulhumale, Maldives. (CSCEC/Handout via Xinhua)

“The relations between China and the Maldives now stand at a new historical starting point,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

MALE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — “Doctor, I can see your name tag now. Thank you,” Ahmed Kalo said right after Chinese doctors at the China-Maldives Ophthalmology Center removed the bandages covering his eyes.

The 69-year-old has been blind for many years due to a stroke. Kalo’s son, Shafraz Ahmed, said his father was dealing with hypertension, diabetes and heart disease but had not received the required medical attention from multiple hospitals due to the intricate nature of his condition.

“This was said to be an impossible and unlikely operation to succeed. I’m extremely thankful to everyone who sent their wishes. Thank you, the people of China,” Shafraz Ahmed said in an X post.

The ophthalmology center is an iconic project under China-Maldives medical cooperation. Meanwhile, China is welcoming Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu for a state visit to start the new year. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the two heads of state will discuss raising bilateral relations to new heights.

Photo taken on Jan. 13, 2020 shows a view of the newly established China-Maldives Ophthalmology Centre at the Hulhumale Hospital in Maldives. (Xinhua/Tang Lu)

NEW HISTORICAL STARTING POINT

“The relations between China and the Maldives now stand at a new historical starting point,” the

spokesperson said, stressing the time-honored friendship has set a fine example of equality and mutual benefit between countries of different sizes.

Over the past decade, bilateral relations have deepened and practical cooperation between the two countries achieved fruitful outcomes in various fields, including Belt and Road cooperation, Wang said.

President Muizzu recently hailed the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, which officially opened in August of 2018, as the archipelagic country’s most iconic and transformational project. Traveling by boat from the capital, Male, to the neighboring island of Hulhumale is no longer necessary, a welcome commuting change for hundreds of thousands of people.

Such projects, built with China’s assistance, also include the construction of social housing units in the country, the expansion and upgrading of the Velana International Airport, and the ophthalmology center, which opened in 2020.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 1, 2019 shows the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge in Maldives. (Photo by Wang Mingliang/Xinhua)

In the first two months, the ophthalmology center completed 1,200 outpatient visits and 164 eye surgeries to widespread acclaim.

Three years later, China’s medical aid to the Maldives is shifting from “giving people fish” to “teaching people how to fish,” with the priority on training local medical teams. In August 2023, two local medical staff, Almas Adnan Ismail, a doctor, and Hawwa Nihla, a nurse, received four months of training at China’s Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University.

“Now I am confident in performing cataract phacoemulsification surgeries independently,” said Ismail. According to Chen Weirong, head of the China-Maldives Ophthalmology Center, Ismail and Nihla can independently handle common eye diseases.

Chen said that more healthcare professionals like Ismail and Nihla will emerge from the project.

Maldives is one of the first countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative, said Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Wang Lixin, saying the next steps for the bilateral cooperation will lead to more expanded joint Belt and Road cooperation in infrastructure, raising living standards, modern agriculture and the blue economy.

China’s Capital Airlines’ flight JD455 is welcomed with a water cannon salute at the Velana International Airport in Male, Maldives, Jan. 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Che Hongliang)

DEEPER, STRONGER CONNECTIONS

Before the pandemic, China had been the largest source of tourists to the Maldives since 2010, with nine cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, having charter flights or direct flights to and from Male.

In 2023, with direct flights resumed and the inflow of Chinese tourists returning, China became the third-largest tourist source of the Maldives, taking up 10 percent of the total tourist arrivals.

In October, President Muizzu told Xinhua that he believes the number of Chinese tourists traveling to the Maldives will increase significantly and may return to pre-pandemic levels.

The Chinese Language Center of Villa College, inaugurated in September 2022, has become a preferred platform for acquiring Chinese educational services, allowing Maldivian tourism professionals to provide better services to Chinese visitors.

“Over the past year, we jointly pressed the ‘fast-forward button’ for post-pandemic recovery in China-Maldives relations,” said Ambassador Wang, citing the resumption of direct flights, the China-Maldives visa-free agreement and the “Chinese Ambassador Scholarship” established at Maldivian universities as ways to enhance people-to-people exchanges and bilateral friendship.