India was still trying to figure out how to remove the president of neighboring Maldives, who turned the tide almost overnight, replacing the Maldives' presidential palace and parliament with pro-China factions. How did such a dramatic thing happen?
India's strategy of "encroachment" on China's territory a few years ago was strongly countered by China, especially after suffering heavy losses in the Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, and began to fully tilt toward the United States in its China policy, actively cooperating with the United States' "Indo-Pacific strategy", acting as an anti-China pawn, and adopting an aggressive confrontational strategy against China on many issues. Of course, China will not only be on the defensive, but also begin to actively cooperate with countries around India that have long been bullied by India, based on economic and technical cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and at the same time carry out political and military cooperation, and a "string of pearls" around India is forming.
(President Muiz of Maldives)
Among these countries, one of the countries that has received the most attention in the last six months is the Maldives. As an island country in the southwest of the Indian subcontinent, the Maldives has been oppressed by India since its founding, and has been forced to pursue a long-term "India first" policy politically, economically and militarily. However, all that changed last September with the Maldives' presidential election. In this election, the Mayor of Malé, Mohammad Muiz, received the most support from the Maldivian people, while the pro-Indian candidate was abandoned by the Maldivian people.
Immediately after coming to power, Muiz abandoned the pro-India "national policy" and instead pursued a new national policy of "moving away from India and moving closer to China," developed friendly and cooperative relations with China, and made his first visit to China shortly after taking office. However, from then until this Monday, Mouiz's regime was not stable, as the pro-India opposition "Democratic Party of Maldives" (MDP) still held the majority of seats in the Maldivian parliament, and he was struggling to govern with President Mouiz at every turn. What is even more insidious is that under India's behind-the-scenes manipulation, the MDP has been hyping up the so-called "corruption" issue of President Muiz in an attempt to initiate his impeachment, completely overthrow the current government, and return to the pro-India line again.
(The China-Malaysia Friendship Bridge is a strategically important infrastructure for the Maldives)
But just this Monday, ballots began in the Maldives' parliamentary elections, with 368 candidates vying for 93 seats. The results of the vote showed that the political situation in the Maldives changed overnight: President Muiz's party, the People's National Congress Party (PNC), won the parliamentary elections by a landslide, winning 68 seats, more than two-thirds of the total seats, while the MDP suffered a crushing defeat with only 10 seats.
While there are still some seats won by other parties, these are irrelevant, and the number of seats won by President Muiz's PNC has been able to ensure that all bills are voted on. So far, the Maldives, which has been regarded almost as a "puppet state" by India in the past few decades, has been replaced by a "pro-China faction" in the eyes of India, from the president to the parliament. The Indian government probably did not expect that President Muiz would lead his party to turn the tables overnight and turn the "war to defend the regime" into a "war of annihilation of political enemies."
(Living facilities built by Chinese companies in residential communities on the otherwise desolate island of Hulhumale)
This is exactly the choice of the Maldivian people. The Maldivians have once again demonstrated that President Muiz's policy of "staying away from India and getting closer to China" has won the support of the people. Further, this is also inseparable from China's strong support for the Maldives. Although the former president of the Maldives is not as "pro-China" as President Muiz, he has long been aware of the "ceiling" of development that India has brought to the Maldives. It should be pointed out that the per capita GDP of the Maldives is comparable to that of China, and it has long been several times that of India. India's backward economy and technology have become the biggest shackles to the development of the Maldives. Therefore, the governments of China and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative at the end of 2014, becoming the first country in South Asia to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
(Housing project built by a Chinese company on Hulhumale Island)
Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has brought tangible dividends to the Maldives. China has built a lot of infrastructure for the Maldives, among which the China-Malaysia Friendship Bridge, which was officially opened at the end of August 2018, is a strategically important facility for the Maldives, which connects the capital of the Maldives to the nearby airport island, which greatly promotes the economic development of the Maldives, and continues to extend to Hulhumale Island, where Chinese companies have also built a large number of residential apartments and living infrastructure, fundamentally solving the problem of extremely insufficient living space on Male Island。
(Chinese tourists have recovered as the largest source of tourists in the Maldives in 2024)
Tourism is the backbone of the Maldives and a major source of foreign exchange earnings. Chinese tourists have been the largest source of foreign tourists in the Maldives for more than a decade, and have only been surpassed by Indian tourists in the past few years of the pandemic, but in 2024, Chinese tourists have recovered as the largest source of foreign tourists in the Maldives.
Not long ago, China signed a military cooperation agreement with the Maldives, which included providing defense equipment to the Maldives free of charge, which emboldened the Maldives to expel dozens of Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives and give up a helicopter and a light transport plane that the Indian side called "assisting the Maldives." The media in South Asia generally believe that this means that China's South Asia and Indian Ocean policies are no longer forbearing, but have become more proactive in their strategy and layout, from "economic cooperation" to cooperation in various fields.
It was China that helped the Maldives become economically and defensively and diplomatically independent, and the people of the country saw tangible benefits, which was one of the key factors in the victory of Muiz and his party.