Mohamed Muizzu (L) with Xi Jinping in Beijing, on January 10, 2024. (Photo via X/@Muizzu2O23)
New Delhi: Amid diplomatic row with India, the Maldivian president, Mohamed Muizzu, taking an apparent jibe at New Delhi, said the Maldives might be a small country, but that is not a “licence” for anybody to “bully” it. He said this on Saturday, at the Velana International Airport, which is on Hulhule island near the Male, after returning from his five-day trip to China.
It may be noted that breaking tradition, Muizzu, who won the Maldivian presidency on an anti-India plank, chose to visit China as his first official trip abroad after being sworn in as the Maldives’ president, in November 2023. His predecessors always visited India as their first official overseas visit.
Recently, government officials and public figures bad-mouthed India and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, after the Indian leader had posted photos of his recent Lakshadweep visit on social media. Indian social media users then picked the prime minister’s post up and started promoting the Union territory as an alternative beach destination for Indian holidaymakers to the Maldives, where thousands of Indians visit every year.
This attracted some Maldivian public figures to comment, who used disparaging and quasi-racist language against India and Modi, resulting in a diplomatic row, as India Sentinels had reported. Although the Muizzu government has suspended three of its ministers because of their remarks against India and Modi, ties between New Delhi and Male have become cold.
In his speech at the Valena airport, Muizzu also asserted that the Indian Ocean does not belong to any specific country, and Maldives has one of the biggest shares of the ocean. Media reports quoted him as saying, “Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 9,00,000 square kilometres. The Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean. This ocean does not belong to a specific country. This ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it.”
Muizzu praises China
According to PSM News, a Maldivian news outlet, in an interview with China’s CGTN channel, Muizzu said the China-Maldives relationship is built on a strong foundation. He said China has helped the development of the Maldives since establishing diplomatic relations in 1972. He also said Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has taken bilateral relations between the two countries to a new level.
Interestingly, he also said the Maldives and China respect each other, and “China fully supports the Maldives’ sovereignty” and added that China is not a country that would “interfere with the internal affairs” of the Maldives, which is why the two countries have a strong relationship.
Maldives sign 20 key agreements with China
During his visit to China, Muizzu and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, held bilateral talks on Wednesday. After the talks, Male signed 20 agreements and a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” with Beijing.
In a post on X, Muizzu’s political handle said: “20 key agreements were signed today between the Government of the Maldives and the Government of China this afternoon and both the Presidents witnessed the signing ceremony.”
#ChinaMaldives 🇨🇳 🇲🇻
— Muizzu2O23 (@Muizzu2O23) January 10, 2024
20 key agreements were signed today between the Government of the Maldives and the Government of China this afternoon. H.E. President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and President Xi Jinping witnessed today’s signing ceremony, held at the Great Hall of People in Beijing.… pic.twitter.com/5dG7pQYFfn
The deals signed by the two sides include cooperation on tourism, reduction of disaster risk, promoting blue economy, strengthening investment in the digital economy, and the Belt and Road Initiative. One of the agreements also includes an unspecified amount of Chinese grant to the Maldives for developmental work.
