India-Maldives: Bilateral ties between India and Maldives are set to take a decisive turn with the maiden visit of their Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer amid a raging row between the countries over the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the island nation even as the Mohamed Muizzu government deepens its relationship with China.
Zameer will be arriving in New Delhi late Wednesday evening and, on Thursday, he will be holding bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar. The visit comes at a time when India is deep in its election season and the Model Code of Conduct is in force, and less than a month since President Muizzu’s party registered a landslide victory in the Maldives’ parliamentary elections.
The victory of the People’s National Congress (PNC) – which followed a few months after Muizzu won the presidential election – signalled a resounding support among the Maldivians for the new administration’s policies, including the basic premise of their foreign policy, to enhance the bilateral relationship with China.
During Foreign Minister Zameer’s visit, he and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar will be discussing “bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest” as Maldives is a “key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region”, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
Despite the frosty ties, Maldives sent its Navy contingent to participate in India’s mega biennial multinational naval war games ‘MILAN 24’ that was held in Visakhapatnam from February 19-27.
‘Cannot Completely Give Up’
So far, India and Maldives have had four rounds of talks under the newly established High-Level Core Group, which was constituted after a brief meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Muizzu in December 2023.
The last round was held earlier this month, in which both sides reviewed the ongoing efforts to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms even as the Indian military personnel posted there for running these gradually leave. India and Maldives also reviewed efforts to enable the operation of medical evacuation services for the Maldivians. The next round of talks will be held in Malé.
Premesha Saha, Fellow, Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), said both countries will need to have such exchanges, and high-level visits should take place as the two need each other, being maritime neighbours and partners under the Indo-Pacific strategic construct.
“We cannot completely give up on dialogue … Yes we know what they are doing with China but we cannot completely give up on Maldives. We need to have cordial ties with them but we need to take a stand too,” said Saha, also a Research Fellow at the Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership.
Saha said, “As far as the Indo-Pacific is concerned, Maldives is crucial along with Australia and Japan. So, India cannot completely do away with Maldives when it comes to having stable and amicable diplomatic ties.”
“Yes, we cannot compete with China when it comes to infrastructure development. But they would need India for HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) purposes. And Maldives also knows it cannot solely depend on China,” she added. “Maldives knows they need other countries like Australia and Japan that are close allies of India. For its own ambitions also they would need India. Maldives knows the kind of relationship others in the Indo-Pacific have with China. For Maldives also, it is important to work with India.”
President Muizzu had set May 10 as the deadline for the Indian military contingent based in Malé to leave the country. The President’s Office said on Monday a total of 51 Indian soldiers had been withdrawn by New Delhi from the archipelago nation.
India had stationed 88 military personnel in the Maldives to operate a Dornier aircraft and two helicopters for the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) that were gifted by New Delhi to the former Maldivian government under President Ibrahim Solih, which followed a pro-India foreign policy.
Under Muizzu, who came to power on an ‘India-Out’ plank, the Maldives and China have vowed to deepen their strategic ties, elevating them to the level of a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership’. This was decided during Muizzu’s weeklong visit to China in January 2024, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was Muizzu’s first state visit after he assumed office on November 17, 2023.
