President Lazarus Chakwera has had a phone call with President Xi Jinping of China.
Malawi24 understands that the two leaders talked about many issues including development projects which the Chakwera administration wants to implement in the country.
According to news site CTGN Africa, Chakwera told Xi that Malawi firmly adheres to the one-China policy. The Malawi leader also told his Chinese counterpart that Malawi opposes the interference in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of human rights and the politicization of COVID-19 origins tracing.
On his part, Xi said China is willing to enhance cooperation with Malawi in fighting COVID-19 and he expressed hope that vaccines provided by China will help Malawi defeat the pandemic.
Xi further told Chakwera that China supports Malawi’s efforts to find a development path suited to its own national conditions. He then expressed China’s commitment to assist Malawi’s economic and social development.
Chakwera’s spokesperson Sean Kampondeni said Xi congratulated Chakwera for assuming SADC chairmanship and reiterated his earlier invitation to Chakwera to visit China for further bilateral talks.
Chakwera also used the phone call to ask for financial assistance for financing for projects such as Judicial Complex, Nnational Referral Hospital and Urban Industrial Parks.
Malawi and China established diplomatic ties in 2008 after the Southern African country dumped Taiwan.
Since then, the Chinese Government has assisted in the construction of the Malawi Parliament building, Bingu National Stadium, Karonga-Chitipa Road in the northern region, the Bingu Conference Center and Hotel, Malawi University of Science and Technology and the Presidential Villas.
There are, however, concerns that some of the projects which China supports are financed through soft loans which Malawi is expected to pay in the long run.
