The new Maldives has repeatedly urged India to withdraw its troops from its territory by March 15, but as the date draws closer, the Indian side 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 the withdrawal of troops on February 2, but the content was "completely different". The Maldives side said that after the meeting, the two countries agreed that India will withdraw its troops from March 10 and complete all withdrawal processes by May 10; The Indian side, as before, did not mention the "withdrawal of troops" at all, saying only that the two sides had agreed on a mutually feasible solution.
Data map: Maldives ** Muiz and Indian Prime Minister Modi meet at COP28 Picture from Maldives **office**.
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, flying three aircraft to patrol the waters of 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 India** will remove military personnel from one of the three air platforms by March 10 and will complete the replacement of military personnel from the other two air platforms by May 10," Maldives said in a statement. ”
However, a statement from India did not mention the "withdrawal of troops", but the same wording as the previous statement, saying that the two sides had agreed on a mutually feasible solution "to enable the Indian aviation platform to continue to operate and provide humanitarian and medical services to the people of the Maldives". "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. So reads the statement of India.
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 Maldives *** said in a statement on the evening of February 2 local time that the ** party had received information on January 31 that a foreign ** person had boarded a Maldivian fishing boat, and after arriving at the scene, he 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.
Maldives** 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, Maldives *** formally requested (India) to provide details of the operation when Maldivians were fishing in the exclusive economic zone of the Maldives without any coordination with the relevant authorities, which is a total violation of international law. The Malaysian statement read.
Unlike his predecessor Saleh, who pursued a "pro-India" policy, Mouiz advocates "Maldives first" and seeks to curb India's influence in the Maldives, unlike his predecessor Saleh, who pursued a "pro-India" policy. 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 Mouiz officially took office, the Maldives** 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. Since then, Muiz has 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 term of the Maldives**. The picture is from The Paper.
The Associated Press mentioned that the Maldives has long been closely associated with 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 visitor** country in the Maldives, accounting for 11%, 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 Maldives** 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 ** 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 is widely seen by the West and India** 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, the leader of the opposition Republic Party of the Maldives, demanded that Moiz "formally apologize" to Indian Prime Minister Modi for his remarks made after his earlier visit to China and seek forgiveness from India, according to India's English Republic World on January 30.
According to Republic World**, the incident highlights the complexity of India's relationship with the Maldives. It is worth noting that Mouiz has also recently been attacked by the main opposition party, the "Maldives Democratic Party" (MDP), for his foreign policy of "alienating India".
According to the Hindustan Times on January 30, the "Maldives Democratic Party" plans to submit a "pro-China" proposal for Muiz. A lawmaker from the same party said they had collected enough signatures from lawmakers, but had not yet formally submitted them. Previously, the party's lawmakers had slammed Muiz for being "naked" anti-Indian, saying that his "pro-China and anti-Indian" policy was not conducive to the long-term development of Malaysia.
In response, Ahmed Salim, a member of parliament from the PPM-PNC to which Muiz belongs, responded strongly on January 29, saying, "We will not give them any chance to continue to do so." They have to kill all of us before they say recall."
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