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India and Maldives - Recent Developments

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January 15, 2018

What is the issue?

  • Maldives Foreign Minister and its President's special envoy to India, Mohamed Asim visited India.
  • The visit gains significance amidst the recently strained relationship between India and Maldives.

What was the recent tussle?

  • Maldives recently signed its Free Trade Agreement with China.
  • This is Maldives’s first FTA with any country and China’s second FTA with any country in South Asia after Pakistan.
  • The trade pact would open Maldives to Chinese goods and tourists in unprecedented numbers.
  • India was certainly concerned with this, due to the possible increased Chinese military presence in the island nation.
  • The Maldivian President had earlier promised that Maldives would be an integral link in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
  • Besides, the Maldives government recently suspended three members of a local body.
  • This was notably on charges of meeting the Indian Ambassador without seeking prior approval.
  • However, responding to these, India articulated its hope that as a friendly neighbour, Maldives would be sensitive to India’s concerns in keeping with its “India first policy”.

What are the outcomes of the visit?

  • The visit was aimed at overcoming the “trust deficit” between the two countries and reset the strained relations.
  • Maldives foreign minister reiterated Maldives' “India first” policy.
  • The emphasis is an attempt to allay India's concerns over Maldives' growing proximity towards Beijing.
  • It was conveyed that Maldives would stay sensitive to India’s concerns over peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.
  • The talks also involved strengthening the bilateral relationship keeping in mind its ‘India first’ policy and our ‘Neighbourhood first’ policy.

What are the implications?

  • The visit by a foreign minister may have cleared some of the bitterness between the two countries.
  • However, India can certainly not continue to take its predominant power in South Asia for granted.
  • It cannot be indifferent to the developments in the smaller neighbours, as they have wider geopolitical ramifications.
  • Both countries have to learn to deal with each others proximity and acknowledge that there are no alternative but to make amends in ties.

 

Source: The Indian Express

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