Muizzu vows to enhance Maldives' surveillance capabilities over EEZ, adding to Delhi's worries over Chinese influence

New Delhi: The Maldives will soon have the capability to keep watch on its Exclusive Economic Zone round-the-clock, President Mohamed Muizzu of the archipelago said amid concerns in New Delhi that his government might allow China to build an ocean observatory in the territorial waters of the Indian Ocean nation.

“The Maldivian Defence Force will soon be able to conduct the surveillance of the 900,000 square kilometres Exclusive Economic Zone of the Maldives, 24 hours a day,” Muizzu said in an address to Rayyithunge Majilis, the Parliament of the island nation, on Monday. He also said that his government had started to strengthen the nation’s military capability to defend the country against any land, sea or aerial threats.

New Delhi’s relations with Malé entered choppy waters after Muizzu took over as the new president of the Maldives on November 17 and started steering the island nation closer to China, reversing his predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s ‘India First’ policy of treating India as Malé's preferred development partner. He also made New Delhi promise to withdraw all its military personnel deployed in the Maldives by May 10 – present mostly for operating and maintaining the aircraft and helicopters provided by the Government of India to the neighboring nation for use in humanitarian services and emergency medical evacuations of people from the far-flung islands of the country.

Muizzu did not make it clear how the defence forces of the Maldives would acquire the capability for 24/7 surveillance over its vast EEZ.

New Delhi, however, is worried about the possibility of China building an ocean observatory at Makunudhoo in the Maldives. The government headed by President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom had in 2017 agreed with Beijing to allow the State Oceanic Administration of China to build the observatory. New Delhi had then objected to the project and asked Malé to be sensitive about India's security concerns. After Abdulla Yameen was voted out of power and the new MDP government led by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took over, the project was shelved. With Muizzu now steering his tiny nation closer to Beijing, New Delhi is now worried that China may soon press the Maldives to revive the ocean observatory project, given the forays of the communist country’s PLAN to the Indian Ocean.

While Male and Beijing are likely to portray the ocean observatory as an initiative to help the Maldives monitor its EEZ, it could potentially become another strategic asset for China in India's neighbourhood.

“We will not give in to any pressure that can undermine the sovereignty of the country,” Muizzu said on Monday, amid strains in Malé’s ties with New Delhi. “A team of experts are now working strenuously to find ways, in accordance with international law, to advocate and recover the lost sovereign territory."

He did not directly refer to India but noted that he had delivered on his poll promise for the departure of the foreign military personnel.

“We have officially communicated that the Government of the Maldives will not renew the agreement which gives a foreign nation the power to measure and map the Maldivian oceans and coastlines,” Muizzu said. He was apparently referring to his decision not to renew the 2019 bilateral agreement that allowed India to conduct hydrographic surveys in the territorial waters of the Maldives.

He, however, of late has accepted Beijing’s diplomatic request to allow Xiang Yang Hong 3, a ‘research vessel’ of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, to dock at the main port of the Maldives, disregarding the security concerns of India. The Chinese PLA Navy used its ‘research vessels’ not only for hydrographic surveys and charting underwater paths for its submarines but also for monitoring missiles or satellites test-fired from the locations in the vicinity as well as for keeping watch on military installations in nearby countries.