How New President Muizzu Challenging India’s Legacy In Maldives?
Maldives’ new President Mohamed Muizzu, who campaigned on altering the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago’s “India first” policy, has requested India withdraw its military from the country.
Muizzu won the presidential election in September, ousting Ibrahim Solih in a runoff after promising to remove a small Indian military presence of 75 personnel.
India and China have been vying for influence in the region, with the coalition backing Muizzu considered to be leaning more towards China.
“The Maldivian people had given him (Muizzu) a strong mandate to request India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives,” the president’s office said in a statement on Saturday.
However, the historical camaraderie between India and Maldives during the presidency of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, spanning from 1978 to 2008, was characterised by amicable ties. However, a paradigm shift occurred in 2013 when Abdulla Yameen, representing the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), assumed the presidency, marking the onset of a pro-China stance.
Lt Col Randeep Hundal of the Indian Army said that under the Solih government, spanning 2018 to 2023, India and the Maldives forged an extensive partnership across economic, social and defence sectors. Several key agreements and initiatives underscore the depth of this collaboration:
2018: President Abdul Solih visited India, reinforcing the India First Policy, leading to India's assistance worth USD 1.4 billion.
2019: India extended a letter of credit totalling USD 800 million, while a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for hydrographic surveying was signed.
2020: A significant milestone was reached as India gifted a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft, accompanied by provisions for training Maldivian pilots and engineers.
2021: India’s commitment to opening a second mission and its involvement in over 45 infrastructure projects, including the Greater Male Connectivity Project with a USD 500 million assistance package, further solidified bilateral ties.
2022: India handed over a coastal radar system, installing 10 radars across the Maldives, and played a crucial role in the inauguration of the Maldives Police Academy in Addu.
2023: India provided a USD 130 million loan, facilitated by the Exim bank, for the development of Hanimadhoo Airport.
Despite these collaborative efforts, the “India Out” campaign emerged, with opposition allegations centred around three confidential agreements: The hydrographic survey, the Dornier Aircraft and the Uthuru Thailafalhu Agreement.
The opposition narrative suggested that the Solih government is compromising the country’s sovereignty and that India’s military presence restricts freedom of expression, aiming to exploit anti-India sentiments in the 2023 elections.
At his inauguration on Friday, Muizzu said, “I will ensure that this country has no foreign military presence on its soil” and the same was requested to Kiren Rijiju, who was representing India at the president’s inauguration, it said.
Lt Col Hundal believes that Maldives is important for India as it is located along key maritime routes in the Indian Ocean. Maldives serves as a toll gate for global trade and energy flow. Essential sea lanes of communication (SLOCs) in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca, make the Maldives a significant player in global maritime trade.
These routes hold paramount significance for India, as almost 50 per cent of the nation’s external trade and a substantial 80 per cent of its energy imports traverse westwards through the Arabian Sea, exclusively utilising these critical maritime channels. For India, securing a positive maritime environment is imperative to fulfil its strategic priorities. Maldives as the first line of defence against various threats, including terrorism and drug trafficking, plays a vital role in India’s vision for regional security.
China’s extensive investments in the Maldives, notably the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge and various infrastructure projects, are part of its String of Pearls strategy. The substantial Chinese debt, amounting to USD 3 billion in 2019, raised concerns, leading to the leasing of 17 islands to China for 50 years. The World Bank’s classification of the Maldives as high risk due to Chinese loans underscores the complexity of the situation.
China’s strategic fortification of these islands, envisioning a potential stronghold in the Indian Ocean could impact trade routes and regional stability, serving Beijing’s interests in ensuring trade flow with African nations in the west and countering potential conflicts with India, Japan and Australia in the east.
However, a senior Indian government official said that it was agreed that the Indian and Maldivian governments would discuss workable solutions for continued cooperation without clarifying whether India would return its military.
With REUTERS inputs
