beijing china today called for resolution of political crisis in maldives through dialogue without external intervention as the embattled president abdulla yameen who is closely allied with beijing declared a state of emergency to stay in power amid rising tide of oppositionweighing its options in the fast deteriorating crisis in the maldives china asked political parties in maldives to find a solution without external intervention as un us and india stepped pressure on yameen to implement the supreme court ruling of setting the detained opposition leaders freeobservers say china faced a similar situation in sri lanka when its close ally and the then president mahinda rajapaksa was defeated in 2015 elections creating crisis situation for chinese strategic investmentshowever in a move that could hurt yameen china upgraded its travel alert asking its citizens to cancel their plans to visit maldives in view of emergency despite assurances from officials in male that security will be provided to touriststourism is biggest industry in the maldives it accounts for around a fifth of the gdp and generates billions of dollars every year in revenue in 2016 the sector was worth almost 9 billionin the light of the latest situation in maldives chinese foreign ministry adjusted the security alert level and asked the chinese citizens to closely follow the local situation and not to travel to maldives chinese foreign ministry spokesman geng shuang told a media briefing hereif they have plans to go to maldives we advise them to cancel it the chinese government attaches great importance to the security of the chinese citizens including the outbound tourists he saidalmost 14 million people visited the indian ocean archipelago last year china is the numberone source of tourists for the maldives chinese tourists constitute about 30 per cent of the maldives tourist arrivalsthe spring festival holiday which includes chinese new year celebrations is peak season for chinese citizens to travel to the maldives for tourism chinas stand could lead to massive cancellations in maldives high end tourists resortsbut geng was ambivalent on taking a stand against yameen who during his visit here in december signed a number of deals permitting chinese investments and inked the much criticised free trade agreement raising hackles in indiachina has always closely followed situation in maldives we hope the relevant parties can properly resolve the differences through dialogue and consultation and restore the normal order as soon as possible and maintain national and social stability geng saidwithout directly commenting on the un the us and indias criticism of the handling of situation by yameen geng said china believes that the maldives government political parties and people have the wisdom and the capability to deal with their current situation on their ownindia yesterday expressed concern over the political turmoil in maldives and asked its nationals not to undertake nonessential travels to the country until further noticethe maldives however today sought to reassure tourists that they would be safegovernment spokesman ibrahim hussain shihab said no curfew had been declared and the safety