cover image: Why New Delhi and Malé decided to bury the hatchet

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Why New Delhi and Malé decided to bury the hatchet

19 Oct 2024

Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu’s recent State visit has put India-Maldives relations on the right track. It has offered mutual benefits, with the Maldives receiving much-needed financial assistance and India enhancing its presence and influence in the country. This momentum offers an opportunity for India and Maldives to overcome their biggest challenge --- partisanship in foreign policy. Since the Maldives’ democratic transition in 2008, its major parties have had a partisan relationship with India. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), in office between 2008 and 2012, embraced an India First policy and enhanced multi-sectoral cooperation with the country. But, its successor, Abdulla Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), fostered close ties with China. Yameen’s decision to join China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI), borrow extensively from Beijing, and deepen security cooperation with it triggered concerns in New Delhi. India’s criticism of Yameen’s crackdown on the Opposition throughout his tenure marked another rift in the relationship, with the president intensifying his anti-India policies in his last months in power.
india nationalism maritime security economic cooperation financial aid international affairs neighbourhood currency swap political trust factionalism china ties defense pact india-maldives relations muizzu visit non-partisan relations anti-india campaign diplomatic patience

Authors

Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy

Pages
6
Published in
India

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