Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, known by political observers to be a pro-China leader, said in an interview with Channel News Asia (CNA) on Friday that India is the country’s “closest neighbour.”
Muizzu, who is set to take office on Friday, after beating incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in a closely-contested run-off poll, noted that rebalancing the island country’s foreign relations amid the India-China rivalry, will be among the key priorities in his first 100 days in office.
One of Muizzu’s campaign promises rested heavily on the “India Out” campaign, which called on India to get its military troops out of the country.
Despite the promise, the 45-year-old told CNA that India will continue to be a “close friend.”
“We will have a close relationship… We have close ties, historical ties between the two countries. India is our closest neighbour,” he said.
He added, however, that the citizens of the Maldives “have very clearly spoken during this campaign” and given him “a mandate of removing foreign military presence from the Maldives.” “Whether it’s India or any other country, it doesn’t matter to us,” he underscored.
India's Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju @KirenRijiju to represent India at the oath taking ceremony of New Maldives Prez Mohamed Muizzu. Official announcement by India: https://t.co/kuuaTYsJyd pic.twitter.com/bhBRdcHnYY
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) November 15, 2023
The newly elected leader, who has been engaging with New Delhi, said that the removal of foreign troops from the country’s soil was in the interest of national security but noted that Maldives would continue to require foreign assistance to strengthen its military.
Maldives’ balancing act between the two Asian powers was brought into the spotlight after it expressed a willingness to assume a more active role in the security of the Indo-Pacific security, as well as regional maritime discussions.
Speaking further on maintaining the India-China balance, Muizzu said that Maldives intends to maintain strong ties with all countries, irrespective of their size.
“I am definitely very keen on making sure that the Maldives gets the maximum benefit out of this. I’m pro-Maldives,” he clarified. “I believe that we are too small a nation to be entangled in this so-called geopolitical fight between bigger nations,” he added.
Muizzu further explained that the choice of balance was mainly due to strategic reasons.
“(Geographically, we) stand almost in the middle of Africa and Southeast Asia, and all the sea lines of communication go through or near the Maldives. And for us, as well as other bigger countries, it is very important that this remains safe.”