Before visiting India, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu to travel to China

Tribune News Service

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 had skipped making India as his first overseas destination after becoming President, a custom started by Mohd Nasheed in 2008.

Muizzu 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 visited the UAE and received an assurance of $ 80 million from the Abu Dhabi Fund for expansion of the Male Airport project 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 agreementsfollowing 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 the Maldives. India has insisted that the planes being operated by Indian military personnel are for the welfare of the people of Maldives since they 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.A day after being sworn-in as President, Muizzu had called on India to remove its military personnel, helicopters and a plane.

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