Self-goal: Wearing China’s debt trap, the Maldives inches closer to become Sri Lanka-II

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Enjoying the bliss of China’s debt traps and refusing to learn from Sri Lanka and the fate of its Rajapakse clan in 2022, the Maldives on Wednesday announced that it will not renew a hydrographic deal with New Delhi.

The Maldives owed around 42% of its more than USD 3 billion foreign debt to China in 2021, according to the World Bank. With increasing proximity to China, the Maldives is distancing itself from India.

Anti-Indian President Mohamed Muizzu’s new announcement comes days after a Chinese research and ‘spy’ vessel spent about a week around Male and more than a month just outside Maldives’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The Maldives will not renew an agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys and plans to acquire the facilities and machines required to do the exercise by itself, President Muizzu said.

He also announced that Male is working to establish a 24/7 monitoring system for the Maldivian waters this month to ensure control of its EEZ despite its significantly large area, the media reported.

The development comes days after China signed a defense cooperation agreement with the Maldives to provide free military assistance to foster “stronger” bilateral ties.

Recently, Male had accused New Delhi as a “big bully” which External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar rejected by saying that bullies don’t provide financial aid worth over USD 5 billion.

India-Maldives ties have suffered a setback ever since pro-China Muizzu assumed office in November 2023. Hours after he took oath, one of the first steps he took was to demand India withdraw all its troops.

Speaking at a ceremony at one of the islands that he was visiting on Monday, Muizzu said, the Maldives Ministry of Defence is making efforts to obtain the facilities required for conducting the hydrographic surveys by the country itself.

“This will allow the Maldives to conduct the underwater surveys of the country by ourselves. We will then acquire all insights of our underwater features and prepare charts, they will be drawn by us,” the President was quoted as saying by Edition. mv, a news portal on Tuesday.

The Maldives’ former administration, led by then President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, had signed an agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys of the Maldives’ underwater features.

“We decided not to renew the agreement entered into with the Indian government to scan and acquire all insights into our underwater bodies. All these underwater details are our property, our heritage,” Muizzu said and claimed the Maldives earlier needed to purchase all such maps and survey data from India.

This is the first time that Muizzu publicly commented about the hydrographic survey plans of his government, which earlier announced the review of more than 100 agreements signed with India by the previous regimes.

The most recent hydrographic survey carried out in collaboration with India’s Hydrography Office was launched in January 2021 as part of the agreement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 during his visit to the Maldives.

“The former President had obtained the approval of the Parliament to facilitate this hydrography services in the Maldives and confer the facility to the Defence Ministry.”

Meanwhile, Muizzu, while visiting yet another atoll on Saturday last, said, his government has vowed to begin work on and establish a 24X7 monitoring system of the Maldivian waters in March.

Speaking with the locals of Raa Meedhoo, the President highlighted that the area of sea is twice as large as the entire land mass of the Maldives and noted that the Maldives “has not been in control of its EEZ despite its significantly large area.”

“Although the EEZ is part of our territory, we could not monitor the area. God willing, our work (to monitor the Maldivian waters) will commence in March. We will establish a 24/7 monitoring system during this month,” Sun. mv, a news portal reported, quoting the President.

The Maldives Coastguard currently seeks regular assistance from the militaries of neighboring countries, and carries out some of the special patrolling operations with foreign allies, the news portal said.