President praised China, citing many references
Trending-Viral – President Mohamed Muizzu, in the official press release , has emphasized the prominence of his visit to China. Following an invitation from the President of China, Xi Jinping, he is at his first foreign state since last Sunday- Jan 07th, 2024 accompanied by First Lady Sajidha Mohamed and a delegation of senior government officials.
As per the press release, His government’s vision for the development of the Maldives is on engagement, partnership building, and focused delivery. He was delivering a speech in the ‘Invest Maldives Forum’ at the Fuzhou Strait International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Fuzhou, China.
He emphasized for cooperation between Maldives and China on G2G (Government to Government) and B2B (Business to Business) by giving references to the ancient Maritime Silk Route that connected China, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Egypt and Europe.
He also noted that the Maldives benefited through Xi Jinping’s 2014 Belt and Road Initiative, which delivered significant infrastructure projects in the Maldives. He highlighted on his vision for the expansion of the central airport and commercial port, emphasizing that the Government is keen to explore partnerships under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.
On FTA between Maldives and China, he mentioned in his address to the forum that the FTA would boost bilateral trade and investments, particularly by increasing the export of fish products to China, marking it as a key priority explored within the FTA.
Why President’s China visit so controversial?
This visit of Maldives President to China has attained significant attention in the mass media and also in the social media, after Maldives Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment Mariyam Shiuna tweeted ‘derogatory comments’ against India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Narendra Modi recently visited Lakshadweep and highlighted it as a tourist destination for Indians.
Sources suggest that the Indian High Commissioner in Male has addressed the issue with the Maldivian government. The government later issued a statement distancing itself from the comments made by the three deputy ministers on social media platforms. It stated that the derogatory remarks reflected were the personal opinions. Later, Maldives suspended 3 ministers over derogatory remark against PM Modi, these ministers were Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid. Shiuna, in her now-deleted tweets had called PM Modi a “clown” and “puppet” after the Prime Minister posted pictures of his visit to Lakshadweep.
What impacted India – Maldives relations?
Recently, two important moves from New Maldives Government impacted the relations between Maldives and India. These moves are briefly described below-
- Back in Dec 2023, The Maldivian government announced its decision not to extend the hydrography agreement signed with India in 2019. This agreement was signed on June 8, 2019, during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to the Maldives with former Maldives President Ibrahim Solih. Under the agreement, India was allowed to conduct a comprehensive study of the island nation’s territorial waters, which includes reefs, lagoons, coastlines, ocean currents, and tide levels.
2. Just a day after Muizzu assumed office, the newly elected administration of Muizzu asked India to withdraw its troops from the island country.Muizzu, after taking over as a president last year, took a pledge to remove Indian soldiers and alter Maldive’s India-first policy.
Former Maldives Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi defended the presence of Indian troops in her country by saying that Indian personnel deployed in the Maldives serve humanitarian purposes.
How India is much important for Maldives?
India is an important country for the Maldives tourism because Maldives get highest number of tourists from India as compared to any other country. Over 200,000 tourists from India visited the island nation last year. However, now this controversy has created a trend of ‘Boycott Maldives tourism” in Indian social media. The result of toll on tourism from India can prove disaster for Maldives people and economy.
Image courtesy: Maldives President official site
