China s current share of Maldives total debt is 37% and there are fears that FTA will further increase debt share, pushing Maldives into a Sri Lanka-type crisis, ET has learnt. The Covid pandemic, notwithstanding India s generous assistance to the island nation, has dented Maldivian economy, according to observers.
Muizzu said he was honoured to pay his first state visit to China and become the first foreign head of state that China has hosted this year, fully demonstrating the great importance both sides attach to the development of bilateral relations.
China and the Maldives upgraded their relationship on Wednesday during newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu's first state visit to Beijing, following a campaign in which he cast China's regional rival India as a threat to sovere
Muizzu became president in November after winning on his "India Out" campaign platform under which he called New Delhi s huge influence a threat to sovereignty. His government has since asked dozens of locally based Indian military personnel to leave. And in an apparent snub to India, Muizzu is in China this week, before any visit to his country s giant neighbour.
“New Delhi ought to maintain greater receptivity, since China’s collaboration with South Asian nations is not a zero-sum endeavor,” Global Times, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said in an editorial.