The Maldives and India have always been close friends, but recently they started to have a feud because of China. What happened? Today, let us talk about "Maldives' affinity with China"! Hiho~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! In early January, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted travel photos on social platforms . He shared that India's smallest federal territory "Lakshadweep" has beautiful scenery and warm people. Unexpectedly, the Maldives in the country next door has The three deputy ministers criticized Modi as a "clown" and a "terrorist", which caused huge controversy. Although these three deputy ministers were immediately suspended , the war on the Internet has ignited. Not only many Indians are very angry , but even India's second largest The travel website also announced that it would suspend booking flights to the Maldives "indefinitely" . Why does the Indian Prime Minister want to visit the Maldives when he promotes his own tourist attraction? And some people think that the reason behind this is related to China! What happened to the Maldives and India? Is China really involved behind the scenes? Let’s discuss it together today! But before we start today’s discussion, let’s go into some business service time! [Friendship between Maldives and India] Before we start the discussion, we need to introduce the country of Maldives. The Maldives is located in the Indian Ocean and consists of 1,200 islands. Only 100 of them are inhabited. The total population is about 53 The Maldives is dominated by tourism. According to data from the World Bank, tourism accounts for one-third of the Maldives economy. Before the epidemic , China was the Maldives’ largest source of tourists. However, the epidemic was banned. Coupled with the economic downturn, India has become the largest source of tourists to the Maldives in the past two years . India and the Maldives have similar ethnicities, languages, cultures and religions due to their geographical relationship , and the politics and business of these two countries are also very different. We have very close contacts with each other . India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the Maldives when it became independent in 1965. Later, when the Maldives encountered a coup and a water shortage crisis , India also extended a helping hand and even provided assistance to the Maldives. In contrast, the Maldives will stand with India on international issues and multilateral forums , support them and even allow India to station troops in the Maldives . However, the new President Muizou believes that India Their good intentions did not simply cause their friendship to begin to change [Malaysian-Indian relations broke down] The new president of the Maldives, Muizou, was originally the mayor of the capital, Male. He was very opposed to India's garrison of troops in the Maldives, thinking that this would It will affect the neutral status of the Maldives and over-reliance on India will also risk interference in domestic politics. Muizou ran for president under the slogan "India Out" and claimed that he was to safeguard the country's independence and sovereignty . Gaining widespread public support , in November, the day after he officially took office as president, he asked India to withdraw its military personnel stationed in the Maldives. In addition, Muizou also broke the tradition that all previous presidents would visit India first after being elected. But after his first state visit to China, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang. After that, he declared that China would soon become the Maldives' "closest development partner" and upgraded the relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership ." The two sides have already 20 cooperation agreements were signed , so some people believe that the breakdown of relations between Maldives and India may involve interference from Chinese factors . This inference can start from the former president of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen [The breakdown of relations between Maldives and India is because China? 】 President Yamen had very friendly relations with China when he was in power from 2013 to 2018. According to Reuters reports , in 2017, during Yamen’s visit to Beijing, China, the Maldivian Parliament signed a long -term agreement with China in less than an hour. The 1,000-page free trade agreement eliminates import tariffs on both sides . In addition, the Maldives also joined China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative and received a US$1 billion loan. The money was used to build infrastructure , including roads and railways, as well as a 2.1-year-old building. The Sinamale Bridge connects the airport to Maldives. This bridge is also considered a symbol of friendship between the Maldives and China. With this bridge, people no longer need to rely on speedboats if they want to go to the airport . They can drive directly to many places. Taxi drivers also have the opportunity to transport more tourists and make more money. However, things began to take a turn after Yamen left office in 2018. President Yamen was sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption and money laundering . His successor, President Sori, criticized Yamen for letting Mardi The Maldives fell into China's "debt trap" in 2023. Their debt to China alone was as high as one-fifth of the Maldives' GDP. This also made President Soori decide to change to the "India first" diplomatic route . By 2023, the Maldives A new general election is coming , but Yamen is serving his sentence in prison. Unable to run, he supports Muizou instead. Therefore, many people regard the current president Muizou as Yamen’s agent , responsible for continuing his unfinished pro-China line. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, the day after he was elected, Muizou demanded that Yamen, who was imprisoned on the prison island, be moved to house arrest in the capital. On the other hand, Indians were also very dissatisfied with the change in Maldives' attitude [India's Fight back! 】 Many Indians believe that in the past, they provided the Maldives with loans of more than 2 billion US dollars, invested in a lot of local infrastructure, and even stationed troops there to provide humanitarian assistance and medical evacuation to the residents of remote islands . However, the Maldives did not. Thinking that they are interfering with sovereignty is really not rewarded for their good intentions . Therefore, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s post promoting the "Lakshadweep Islands" on social platforms is also considered to be a statement on the "Maldives' pro-China" attitude , especially when he chose Many people speculated that Modi wanted to tell Indians that they don’t need to go to the Maldives for vacation to have the same beautiful scenery in India . This incident also triggered a debate on the Internet. An Indian politician forwarded the Prime Minister’s post. The video called the Maldives a "puppet of China". Not to be outdone, Maldivian officials hit back and described the Indian Prime Minister as a "terrorist" and a "clown". Although Maldives suspended the three foreign ministers within a short time. The Ministry of Finance also came forward to say that these remarks did not represent the official position, but the matter continued to get worse. Many Indian celebrities began to post Indian attractions on the Internet, and also extended the slogans "Explore Indian Islands (#ExploreIndianIslands)" and "Boycott the Maldives (#BoycottMaldives)" )" label . Even India's second largest travel website with a market share of 22% announced that it would stop its flight booking service in the Maldives. The founder of the website said: "Any self-respecting country should do this." That is aimed at These accusations of being pro-China have led Maldivian President Muizou to say that they will not be "anti" to any country, nor will they be "pro" to any country in particular. Their policy is just "pro-Maldives". Regardless of whether the Maldives is pro-China, why are India and China so active in cooperating with the Maldives? [Why is everyone trying to win over the Maldives? 】 The main reason is the geographical location of the Maldives. According to the analysis of Dr. Satoru Nagao, a researcher at the Hudson Institute in Washington, many countries are very dependent on the Indian Ocean for their energy supply , especially oil transportation . Transportation lines (SLOCs) and this line happens to pass through the waters near the Maldives , like Japan. They import nearly 90% of the oil from West Asia , all coming from this route . China is also similar, 80% of the oil has to be transported from here. Therefore, as long as any country can regularly deploy naval vessels here with the consent of the Maldives and demonstrate the ability to defend or attack , then it can become the "protector" of this route and even become the leader of the Indian Ocean region. Because other countries in the Indian Ocean will hope to maintain good relations with the big brother in this region to obtain security guarantees . Simply put, as long as whoever can provide Maldives protection will be able to dominate this route and even control the future of the Indian Ocean . Some experts believe that if China has become the new guardian in the Indian Ocean, and India's current influence in the Indian Ocean may be damaged. This may be one of the reasons why India is highly vigilant about the "Maldives' pro-China" and the long-term competition between China and India [We [Viewpoint] When we were studying this topic , we found that the situation of the Maldives and Taiwan is somewhat similar to that of the Maldives, which is located in the Indian Ocean. The key position is the focus of competition between India and China. Taiwan is in an important position in East Asia and the Pacific, and plays an important role between the United States and China. We all must adopt delicate foreign policies to ensure the security of our country . However, Maldi The diplomatic strategies of the Maldives are somewhat different from those of Taiwan . Although the Maldives claims to be neutral , many people believe that they are now following a pro-China line. Taiwan’s policy in recent years has been relatively less dependent on China and has chosen to expand into more diverse international markets. Our allies support us and believe that this key difference may come from the different economic sources of the two countries. The Maldives mainly relies on tourism and foreign investment , especially investment from China. Therefore, apart from neighboring India, their partner is the creditor China, and they have no choice. Because Taiwan's industries are relatively diversified , including manufacturing, technology and service industries , relatively speaking, it has relatively high economic autonomy and capital, and can cooperate with other countries around the world. There is less pressure to choose sides . In addition, there are also differences between Taiwan and China. Comparatively complex historical and political entanglements and various reasons may have led to Taiwan and the Maldives choosing different paths . However, this is just our own opinion. If the audience has different opinions, please feel free to add them in the comment area! Then we would also like to ask you if you were a Maltese woman, would you support the pro-China strategy? Finally, if you like today's video, please share it to let more people know about "Maldives' friendship with China"! In addition, you can also click here to read "Sri Lanka's Bankruptcy" and "One Belt and One Road Ten Years" . So, today's Zhiqi Qiqi comes to an end here . See you tomorrow night!
