A day after returning from China where he signed a raft of deals, the Maldivian president on Sunday told India to withdraw its nearly 100 troops by March 15.
New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence but the country has shifted to China’s orbit, the Maldives’s largest external creditor.
The March deadline was set during talks with Indian officials in the Maldives on Sunday, a top aide to President Mohamed Muizzu said, honouring the leader’s long-standing election pledge.
“The president put forth this request at the meeting of the high-level committee between the two nations… the proposal is currently under consideration,” Muizzu’s Public Policy Secretary Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim told reporters.
India has a deployment of about 89 personnel, including medical staff, to operate three aircraft to patrol the archipelago’s vast maritime territory.
Muizzu came to power in September after pledging to evict Indian forces. On Saturday, after arriving in the capital Male, the president said that while the Maldives may be small, the country will not be bullied. “We are not a country that is in the backyard of another country. We are an independent nation,” Muizzu said.
“This territorial integrity policy is one that China respects”, he said in the nation’s Dhivehi language, the Mihaaru newspaper reported.
With Beijing and New Delhi tussling for influence, Muizzu was elected in September after pledging to cultivate “strong ties” with China.
“We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us,” Muizzu said, in a final comment in English. He has denied seeking to redraw the regional balance by bringing in Chinese forces to replace Indian troops.
Muizzu’s trip to China this week was his first state visit since becoming president.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV said deals included “infrastructure construction, medical care and health care, improvement of people’s livelihoods, new energy sources, agriculture and marine environmental protection” agreements.
