Maldives' Muizzu meets China's Xi amid diplomatic row with India

Though most of his predecessors visited New Delhi first before embarking on one to Beijing, Muizzu chose to visit China, lending credence to widespread speculation in India about the Maldives’ drift towards the communist country.

New Delhi: Even as a European Union report accused his party of spreading disinformation against India to win the September 2023 elections in the Maldives, the president of the archipelago, Mohamed Muizzu, on Wednesday joined his counterpart in China, Xi Jinping, in pledging support to both nations’ sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

Xi hosted Muizzu in Beijing and the two leaders elevated the ties between China and the Maldives to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Muizzu told Xi that China had provided a lot of valuable help for the economic and social development of the Maldives. The cooperation between the two nations, especially the joint implementation of the projects under China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative' greatly benefited the people of the Maldives, he said during the meeting with the president of China.

“The Maldives firmly adheres to the One-China policy (not recognizing the Republic of China or Taiwan). Firmly supporting each other in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is a solid foundation for the sustained and sound development of the relations between China and the Maldives,” said Muizzu.

China firmly supports the Maldives in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and national dignity. China is willing to exchange experience in state governance with the Maldives, Xi told Muizzu.

Muizzu took over as the president of the Maldives on November 17 after defeating his predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the elections held in two rounds in September 2023. Though most of his predecessors visited New Delhi first before embarking on one to Beijing, he chose to visit China, lending credence to widespread speculation in India about the Maldives’ drift towards the communist country.

He commenced his visit to China a day after a row erupted over derogatory remarks posted by some lawmakers and deputy ministers of the Maldives on X about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The comments were made in response to some posts with pictures and videos of Modi during his visit to Lakshadweep off the Malabar Coast of India. To contain the row, Muizzu suspended three of his deputy ministers for making comments about Modi.

Muizzu met Xi even as the European Union’s Election Observer Mission published a report on the September 2023 elections in the Maldives. The report pointed out that Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) and its ally, former president Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s People’s Party of Maldives (PPM), had whipped up sentiments against India, based on fears of Indian influences and anxiety regarding a presence of Indian military personnel inside the country. “This theme was subject to multiple online disinformation attempts,” the EU Election Observer Mission reported.

Muizzu’s campaign for the presidential polls saw him opposing and promising to reverse his predecessor Solih’s ‘India First’ policy of treating New Delhi as a preferred partner for the Maldives. He had vowed to start the process of removing all Indian military personnel from Maldives immediately after taking oath.

India has 77 military personnel in the Maldives. They were deployed to operate and fly two Dornier aircraft and a helicopter gifted by India to the Maldives for emergency evacuation of people from the islands. The Muizzu government has already formally requested New Delhi to withdraw the military personnel.