Maldives President to visit China before India

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, January 1

A fortnight after Male decided not to renew an agreement signed with India to conduct hydrographic surveys in its waters, recently elected Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is planning to visit China.

Muizzu has already skipped making India his first overseas destination after becoming President, a custom started by Mohd Nasheed in 2008. He had instead opted to travel to Turkey. His second overseas visit was to attend the COP28 in the UAE. In fact, even before getting sworn in as President, he went to the UAE and received an assurance of $80 million from the Abu Dhabi Fund for the expansion of Male airport, which till then was being financed by India.

Muizzu, said sources, is skipping New Delhi due to the formation of a core committee to review about 100 bilateral agreements following his meeting with PM Narendra Modi last month in the UAE, the most crucial of which is the stationing of Indian military personnel and military hardware in Maldives. India has insisted that the planes being operated by Indian military personnel are for the welfare of the people of Maldives since these are used for emergency medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance at sea and surveillance against smugglers. Security assistance with India appears to have already taken a hit. Last month, Maldivian Vice-President Hussain Mohamed Latheef had attended a Chinese meet on the Indian Ocean but Male sent no official for an India-propelled meet on maritime security hosted by Mauritius.