A Chinese research and “spy” ship stayed around Male for about a week and the Maldives for a month
Male, Maldives:
Maldives President Mohamed Muizum announced that the Maldives will not renew its agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys and plans to purchase the facilities and machinery needed to conduct the exercises on its own.
Mr. Muizzi also announced that the Maldives is working this month to establish a 24X7 monitoring system for Maldivian waters to ensure control of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), despite its considerable size.
A few days ago, China and the Maldives signed a defense cooperation agreement to provide free military assistance to promote “stronger” bilateral relations.
Relations between India and the Maldives have suffered setbacks since the blindly pro-China Muizou took office last year. Hours after being sworn in in November 2023, one of the first steps Muizu took was to demand that India withdraw all its troops.
Muizou’s new statement comes days after a Chinese research and “spy” ship remained around Male for about a week and outside the Maldives’ exclusive economic zone for more than a month.
Speaking at a ceremony on one of the islands he visited on Monday, Muizou said the Maldives Defense Ministry was working to acquire the facilities needed to conduct hydrographic surveys in the country.
Edition.mv quoted the president as saying: “This will enable the Maldives to conduct its own underwater survey of the country. Then we will get all the insights about our underwater features and prepare charts, which will be drawn by us.” News portal Tuesday .
The previous government of the Maldives, led by then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, signed an agreement with the Indian government to conduct hydrographic surveys of underwater features in the Maldives.
“We have decided not to renew the agreement with the Indian government to scan and get all the information on our underwater bodies. All these underwater details are our property, our heritage,” Muizou said. Maldives earlier needed to buy all these underwater details. Maps and survey data from India.
This is the first time Muizu has publicly commented on his government’s hydrographic survey plan. His government earlier announced that it would review more than 100 agreements signed with India by the previous regime.
The latest hydrographic survey, conducted in partnership with the Hydrographic Office of India, was launched in January 2021 as part of an agreement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Maldives in 2019.
“The former president has secured parliamentary approval to promote hydrology services in the Maldives and award the facility to the Ministry of Defence,” Edition.mv reports.
Meanwhile, two days ago, during a visit to another atoll on Saturday, Mr Muizzi said his government had vowed to start studying and establishing a 24X7 monitoring system in Maldivian waters in March.
Speaking to locals in Lamido, the President emphasized that the Maldives’ maritime area is twice the size of its entire land area, noting that the Maldives “despite its large size, it does not yet control its exclusive economic zone. “
“Though the EEZ is part of our territory, we do not have the capability to monitor the area. God willing, our work (monitoring of Maldivian waters) will begin in March. We will set up a 24X7 monitoring system this month,” News The president was quoted as saying by the portal Sun.mv.
The news portal said the Maldives Coast Guard is currently seeking regular assistance from neighboring militaries and conducting some special patrol operations with foreign allies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
