Chinese troops will not replace Indians, Maldives leader says

Malé, Maldives – AFP

The Maldives’s incoming president Mohamed Muizzu has vowed to expel Indian troops after taking office later this week, but told AFP he does not want to redraw regional balance by bringing in Chinese forces instead.

“Maldives is too small to be entangled in geopolitical rivalry,” the president-elect said in an interview on the strategically located Indian Ocean archipelago. “I am not very much interested to engage the Maldivian foreign policy in this.”

Muizzu’s election success in September hinged on a sustained campaign against India’s outsized political and economic clout in the Maldives, and specifically his pledge to eject Indian forces.

But he said he will not allow China — or any other nation — to replace them, and dismissed reports of him being closer to Beijing. He insists he is only “pro-Maldives”.

“We are going to work together with all the countries, India, China and all other countries as well,” the 45-year-old leader, who will be sworn in on Friday, said at his home in the capital Male.

Known for its pristine beaches and secluded resorts as one of the most expensive holiday destinations in South Asia, the Maldives has also become a geopolitical hotspot.

Global east-west shipping lanes pass the nation’s chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands, scattered around 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.

Muizzu was regarded as a proxy of pro-China former president Abdulla Yameen, who had shifted the country heavily into Beijing’s orbit till his 2018 defeat.