India-Maldives Row: Amid unprecedented deepening tension between India and Maldives, Maldives has turned its back on China. Its relations with India are worsening day by day. After returning from a five-day visit to China, President Muizzu announced that Indian troops would return by March 15.
During his visit to China, Muizzu and Jinping have agreed to several agreements. Such include China’s participation in the tourism sector, help in dealing with natural disasters, cooperation in digital economy and help in promoting maritime economy. Apart from this, free trade between the two countries has also been discussed in many media reports, but it has not been mentioned in the list of agreements.
Threat to India?
What impact will the deepening relations between China and Maldives have on India? Will India’s position be weaker than before? Maldives knows that China is notorious for getting into debt traps. Therefore, it will try not to make the same mistake as Sri Lanka. The recent agreement between China and Maldives reflects the interdependent relationship. That means, even though China’s investment is one-sided, if the agreement is broken, China will also suffer losses. However, the situation in the Indian Ocean has weakened a bit for India.
Many experts believe that Maldives is behaving like a swing state. That means the country which serves his interests is still with him. China can take advantage of its friendship with Maldives in the Indian Ocean, from this region China imports 80 percent of its oil needs. India’s security may be at risk due to increased Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean. The distance from Maldives to India is very short, so it is easy to keep an eye on India from there