Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Maldives embraces China and opposes India' that was published in Newsband

Maldives embraces China and opposes India

Abdulla Yameen, President of the Maldives, have put Malé on a collision course with New Delhi. India criticised the government for its incarceration of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed. India called the trial a sham. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled a visit in a show of disapproval of the treatment of Mohamed Nasheed.

India has called out many actions of Yameen’s government, including the conduct of polls, treatment of the judiciary and, in February, his declaration of a state of emergency. On the last, it also rejected Yameen’s offer to send an envoy to explain his decision. Yasmeen feels bolstered by a newly strengthened relationship with China.

The strain is now evident in India-Maldives ties. There is a downturn in defence cooperation between the two countries. Hundreds of Indians have been denied work visas for the past few months. A few years ago, the Maldives affirmed an “India First” policy. When Nasheed was deposed in 2012, it was at the Indian embassy that he sought refuge.

Whatever may be the case, India should not antagonise Malé or any other country, at least not by open outcry, rather government should take quiet diplomatic means to show its alienation or resentment. We all know that how badly China is thriving to have a full control over Asia's market and by doing this india by itself is being conducive to China strategy.

The primary reasons for the deterioration of India-Maldives relations is India's failure to assess the prevailing ground situation in Maldives, China's entry, and India's democratic principles. By the time India realized that Abdulla Yameen will use all means, fair and unfair, to stay in power, China took advantage of the situation, and Abdulla Yameen embraced China to stay in power, and paid no heed to India. Now, till Abdulla Yameen is in power with China's support, India can only watch the deterioration of the relations. For the time being, India can use quite diplomacy and stop acting as a big brother to prevent further drifting of the relations to the worse.

The vacuum created by strained relationship between the two nations may be exploited by China to their advantage. India should not maintain antagonistic relation with Maldives since we have both economic relationship and have ample number of employment opportunity for Indians. China has taken the opportunity to melt Yameen and India has the onus to regain the trust lost with Maldives.