Chinese president Xi Jinping encouraged his countrymen to eat more local seafood than consuming more cups of noodles.

President Xi joked while embarking on a diplomatic trip to Maldives on Tuesday. He said that Chinese nationals ought to eat more local seafood and “fewer instant noodles”. He also added that his citizens should be more civilized when travelling abroad and not throw bottles everywhere or destroy coral reefs.

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The president’s funny take for his people’s love for cup noodles was in reference to last year’s news in hotels in Maldives. This was after majority of the hotels took off electric kettles from the rooms booked by Chinese guests. The move was said to discourage them from frequently eating instant noodles.

The Chinese government has been making efforts to crack down its citizens travelling abroad from littering and graffiti writing. In recent years, Chinese tourists were reported to deface an ancient Egyptian temple. Other reports also account Chinese holiday-makers to have lifted a stranded dolphin near the shoreline and took several selfie-photos while in the area. This has tarnished the image of Chinese tourists visiting various countries, including Maldives.

Chinese travelers are not as adventurous when it comes to eating foreign food. It is not unusual to see their bags packed with their local snacks and of course, cup noodles. The noodles news, however, has made a majority of Chinese guests feel they were being discriminated, reported WSJ.

Maldives has been a favorite spot for Chinese tourists even when most of them aren’t fond of water sports or getting tan lines. The reason behind why many Chinese guests have been visiting the island nation is due to the visa free access the country offers.

Since 2010, Chinese guests have been coming in great numbers to Maldives. A recorded 230,000 Chinese guests came to the island nation in 2012, according to a government data.

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