India is a brother, but China is like a long lost cousin found, Maldives Ambassador to China Mohamed Faisal has said, asserting that his country would push ahead with Chinese projects despite New Delhi's concerns.
The Maldives will further embrace Chinese investment but is aware it risks getting caught between China and India, Faisal told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
"China is like a long-lost cousin that we have found, a long-lost cousin who is willing to help us," he said yesterday after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen lifted a state of emergency in the troubled South Asian nation after 45 days.
"India is a brother. We are a family, we may quarrel and we may have arguments but in the end, we will sit down and resolve it," the diplomat said.
He claimed that the Maldives has taken a number of projects to India for finance "but we did not receive the necessary finance."
"Right now, it's only seven islands that Chinese have invested in, in the tourism sector. For a country with such capacity as China I think it is a very low number it should be more than that."
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