A row has erupted after a Maldives minister commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the Lakshadweep.
🎃Maldives minister Abdulla Mahzoom Majid’s comment on sociℱal media.
PM Modi's visit to the country's smallest Union Territo💙ry comprising 36 islands with an area of 32 sqkm ✤was seen a move to promote tourism on the island.
In his tweet, the ministe♓r accused India of targeting Maldives and said India faces significant chall꧅enges in competing with the Maldives in beach tourism.
The tweet came after PM Modi's posts on X (formerly Twitter) about snorkelling in the Lakshadweep went🦩 viral, prompting social media users in India to suggest the island Union Te🥃rritory as an alternate tourist destination to the Maldives.
Maldives minister Majid, later deleted his tweet.
India-Maldives ties in the pa🐼st few months have been strained, after President Mohamed Muizzu came to power.
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu China visit:
The new Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu will visit China for the 🐬first ⛦time on Monday for talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The meeting between the two top leaders will provide "strategic guidance" for the bilateral relations to 🐎reach a n🧔ew height, reported PTI.
Muizzu and First Lady Sajidha Mohamed will visit China from January 8 to 12 at the invita𒅌tion of Presi🙈dent Xi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday.
Muizzu, who is seen as a pro-🔴China politician, took oath as the eighth President of the Maldives after defeating the India-friendly incumbent 🍨Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential runoff held in September.
Wang Wenbin, another spokesperson of the Chi💫nese foreign ministry said that this would be Presid﷽ent Muizzu’s first state visit to a foreign country since he took office.
President Xi will host a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for President Muizzu. The two heads of state will hold talks and attend the signing ceremony of cooperation documents, h🎉e said.
Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji will meet with Pre🔯sident Muizzu respectivel🌞y, Wang said in response to a question at a regular foreign ministry briefing.
"China and the Maldives b🎃oast time-honoured friendship. In the past 52 years since the establishment of ꦑdiplomatic ties, the two countries have treated each other with respect and supported each other, setting a fine example of equality and mutual benefits between countries of different sizes, Wang said.
He noted that the relations between China and the Maldives have deepened and achieved fruitful outcomes of practical cooperation in various fields, includin🗹g Belt and Road c🍸ooperation, and deepening traditional friendship.
"The relations between China and the Maldives now stand ✤at a new historical starting point. We believe that through this visit, the two heads of state will provide strategic guid🔯ance for the bilateral relations to reach a new height," Wang added.
Mu𒁃izzu's predecessors in the recent past visited India first, considering the wide-ranging bilateral ties and the Maldives' proximity to India, followed by China which has expanded its influence in the island nation by investing in major infrastructure projects there.
PM Modi, Muizzu meeting in UAE:
Surprisingly Muizzu chose Turkiye as his first destination for a foreign visit soon after his election followed by the UAE where he met Prime Minister Naren🍷dra Modi on the sidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Clꦏimate Change (COP28) on December 1 and discussed the progress of the wide-ranging bilateral ties.
During the meeting, both leaders agreed to set up a core gro🏅up to discusꩲs the multi-dimensional relations and further deepen ties.
The meeting took place after Muizzu requested New Delhi to withdraw 77 Indi﷽an military personnel ඣfrom the Maldives and decided to review more than 100 bilateral agreements between the two countries.
Muizzu’s foreign policy:
Earlier, Muizzu's government annouไnced its plans to drop a hydrographic surv🔜ey agreement with India.
Muizz♔u will be the sec🅷ond-highest politician to visit China in recent weeks.
The new Maldives Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef last month visited China, his first visit abroad, an🐻d took part in the China-sponsored China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation, (CIORF) in K൩unming.
Significantly, while praising Chinese infras🅷tructure projects, Latheef made no mention of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) under which most of the Maldives' infrastructure projeജcts were built.
The B🔴RI is an ambitious plan initiated by President Xi in 2013 to develop new trade routes connecting China with🐭 the rest of the world via land and maritime networks to improve regional integration, increase trade and stimulate economic growth.
Observers say Muizzu's foreign policy is still evolvingꦇ as the Maldives domestic political situation has undergone a major change after his election in November last year.
Soon after his election Muizzu fell out with former pro-China President Yameen, regarded as his mentor, and opted to ♉pursue his own foreign and domestic policy.
Under Yameen's Presidency, China carried out major infra projects amid allegations of debt traps b꧒y some influential politicians of the Maldives.
Angry with Muizzu, Yameen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption, quit the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and formed his own political party called People's National Front (PNC) from jail to oppo🍌se Muizzu.
Also, the ﷺisland's Parliament is currently dominated by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) headed by Solih.
Maldives, key for India strategically:
The Maldives is India's key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and occupies a special place in its initiatives like SAGAR' (Se🌊curity and Growth for All in the Region) and the Neighbour💖hood First Policy' of the Modi government.
The Maldives' proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland's western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean gives it significant strategic importance.
