China supports the Maldives in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty.
Beijing:
China said on Tuesday it supports the Maldives in safeguarding its sovereignty as the first batch of Indian military personnel left the Maldives in helicopters and were replaced by civilian personnel.
Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives who were responsible for operating helicopters left the country after handing over operations of the helicopters to Indian civilians, Maldivian media reported on Monday.
When asked to comment on India’s first batch of troop withdrawals from the Maldives, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he did not know the specific situation.
China supports the Maldives in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and conducting friendly cooperation with all parties on the basis of independence.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizou, who is considered a pro-China leader, confirmed that after May 10, no Indian military personnel, even plainclothes personnel, will appear in the Maldives.
Muizou asked India to withdraw nearly 90 military personnel from the Maldives, and India agreed to replace these military personnel with civilian personnel and continue to provide the country with two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft to provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services.
The Muizu government also allowed an advanced Chinese “research ship” to dock in Male. Last week, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) signed an agreement with the Chinese military. According to this agreement, China will provide “non-lethal” weapons to the Maldives free of charge.
Muizou visited China in January this year. The two countries announced that they would upgrade their bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and signed 20 agreements to assist Maldives in infrastructure construction.
China also announced $130 million in aid and pledged to send more Chinese tourists to the tourism-reliant Maldives.
Following Muizhu’s visit, China will send more tourists to the Maldives at his request, in an apparent attempt to reduce dependence on Indian tourists, who have recently topped the list of tourism-dependent countries in the Maldives.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
