► Text Observer.com Xiong Chaoran
The new Maldivian government has repeatedly urged India to withdraw its troops from its territory by March 15, but as the date draws closer, India has been slow to give a letter.
According to the Associated Press and India's New Delhi Television (NDTV) on February 3 local time, Malaysia and India both issued statements on February 2 on the withdrawal of troops, but the content was "completely different". The Maldivian side said that after the meeting, officials of the two countries agreed that India would withdraw its troops on March 10 and complete all withdrawal processes by May 10, while the Indian side, as before, did not mention "withdrawal" at all, saying only that the two sides had agreed on a mutually feasible solution.
Data map: Maldivian President Muiz and Indian Prime Minister Modi meet at COP28 The picture is from the website of the Office of the President of the Maldives
India's New Delhi TV reported that the Maldives and India recently met in New Delhi and made decisions on relevant issues. Currently, India has about 80 military personnel deployed in the Maldives and piloted three aircraft to patrol the waters in the region. The Associated Press described the two countries as issuing completely different statements on February 2 on the issue of India's withdrawal.
"The two sides agreed that the Indian government will remove the military personnel of one of the three air platforms by March 10 and will complete the removal of military personnel from the other two air platforms by May 10," the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. ”
However, a statement from India's Ministry of External Affairs did not mention the "withdrawal", but instead said the two sides had agreed on a mutually feasible solution "to enable the Indian Air platform to continue to operate and provide humanitarian and medical services to the people of the Maldives," as previously issued in the same language. "During the meeting, the parties continued to discuss a wide range of issues related to bilateral cooperation in order to identify steps to strengthen the partnership, including accelerating the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects. The statement of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs reads.
In addition to the inconsistencies in the statements, the Associated Press reported that there have been a series of other "conflicts" in the Maldives and India that have caused setbacks in relations between the two countries.
According to the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives said in a statement on the evening of February 2 local time that the country's military had received information on January 31 that a foreign military personnel had boarded a Maldivian fishing boat, and after arriving at the scene, it was found to be a member of the Indian Coast Guard. The Maldivian military also spotted Indian coast guard personnel boarding two other boats, but did not explain what they did on board, the statement said.
The Maldivian government said it had asked the Indian side to clarify why Indian coast guard personnel boarded three Maldivian fishing vessels operating in the Maldives' exclusive economic zone earlier this week without consultation.
"On February 1, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives officially requested (India) to provide details of the operation, when the Maldivians were fishing in the exclusive economic zone of the Maldives without any coordination with the relevant authorities, which was in total violation of international law. The Malaysian statement read.
Unlike his predecessor, Moiz, who pursued a "pro-India" policy, advocates "Maldives first" and seeks to curb India's influence in the Maldives, unlike his predecessor Saleh, who was elected in September last year and subsequently came to power. During the election campaign, he called India's enormous influence a threat to the sovereignty of the Maldives and promised to demand the withdrawal of Indian troops.
On November 18 last year, the day after Moiz officially took office, the Maldivian government formally demanded that India withdraw its troops. It is reported that Muiz made this request at a meeting with representatives of the Indian side who attended his inauguration ceremony. Later, Muiz also made it clear at a press conference that India must withdraw all Indian military personnel deployed in the Maldives by March 15.
On November 17, 2023 local time, Mohammed Moiz was sworn in as the eighth president of the Maldives. The picture is from The Paper
The Associated Press mentioned that the Maldives has long been closely linked to India, with many of its citizens traveling to India for medical care and education, and most of the country's staple foods and medicines are imported from India. Last year, India was the largest source of tourists to the Maldives, accounting for 11 per cent, followed by Russia and China. Indian media said that India believes that the Maldives is within its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean, but the latter is trying to get rid of Indian influence.
Reuters pointed out that from January 8 to 12, Muiz, who had just been in office for three months, paid a state visit to China. In fact, it was seen as a "conventional" visit, as Moiz was the first Maldivian president to visit China rather than India after taking office. During Muiz's visit, China-Malaysia relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, with the two countries signing 20 agreements covering economic cooperation, health, infrastructure, housing and other fields.
After returning home from a five-day visit to China, Muiz told the media that the Indian Ocean is shared by all countries on this ocean and does not belong to any one country. He added, "We're small, but that doesn't mean you can bully us." Against the backdrop of recent ongoing tensions with India, this was widely seen by the Western and Indian media as a "public warning" against India.
Muiz's policy stance after coming to power has also attracted domestic politicians to take the opportunity to attack. Qasim brahim, leader of the opposition Republic Party in the Maldives, demanded that Moiz "formally apologize" to Indian Prime Minister Modi for his remarks made after his earlier visit to China and seek India's forgiveness in an interview with the media, according to a report on the website of Republic World, an English-language media outlet in India on January 30.
According to the Republic World website, the incident highlights the complexity of India's relationship with the Maldives. It is worth noting that Moiz has recently been attacked by the main opposition party, the "Maldives Democratic Party" (MDP), for his foreign policy of "alienating India".
According to a report by the Hindustan Times on January 30, the "Democratic Party of Maldives" plans to submit a proposal to impeach "pro-China" President Muiz. A lawmaker from the same party said they had collected enough signatures from lawmakers, but had not yet formally submitted them. Previously, MPs from the same party had slammed the Muiz government for being "naked" anti-Indian, saying that its "pro-China and anti-Indian" policies were not conducive to the long-term development of Malaysia.
In response, Redwave Saleem, a lawmaker from the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM-PNC) to which Muiz belongs, responded forcefully on January 29, saying, "We will not give them any chance to continue doing so." They have to kill all of us before they say remove the president."
Source: Observer.com