New Delhi: Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu is likely to be travelling to China soon, which will mean that he is the first head of the Maldives to travel to Beijing before he gets to New Delhi.
It is understood that Muizzu is going to be travelling abroad in early January. Sources have indicated that his destination is likely to be China.
This will be his third foreign trip abroad since taking over the presidency in November 2023. There is, however, no official announcement of the visit yet.
Starting with the first democratically elected president, Nasheed, in 2008, all successive heads of state have followed the pattern of making India their first foreign port of call. This included Mohamed Waheed and Abdulla Yameen in 2012 and 2014 respectively, both of whom were perceived to be less favourably disposed towards India.
However, Muizzu broke with tradition and chose Turkey as his first foreign destination as president. Till his visit, the two countries didn’t have resident ambassadors in each other’s capitals. Thereafter, he went to the United Arab Emirates to attend the CoP summit.
Widely believed to be more sympathetic towards China, Muizzu had won a comprehensive victory in the presidential election, with his campaign attacking the incumbent President Ibrahim Solih for endangering Maldives’ solidarity by fostering military ties with India.
A day after assuming office, he officially requested India to remove its military personnel manning two helicopters and a Dornier plane, which were operating humanitarian assistance and medical emergency sorties between the islands, according to New Delhi.
During his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the CoP summit in UAE, he again brought up the demand for removal of Indian military personnel. Both countries expressed their intention to engage in discussions regarding this matter.
Two weeks ago, Maldives conveyed to India its intention to withdraw from a bilateral agreement that permitted New Delhi to collaborate in hydrographic survey of Maldivian territorial waters.
President Muizzu, during his term as mayor of Malé, had worked closely with the Chinese government and companies who were involved in infrastructure projects, including the Sinamalé Bridge. He has repeatedly unfavourably compared the pace of work in the India-funded Thilamalé Bridge to the Sinamalé bridge, which was earlier called the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge.
Earlier in December, Maldivian Vice-President Hussain Mohamed Latheef went to China on his first foreign trip to attend the China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation. At around the same time, Mauritius hosted the regional group on maritime security, led by India. Maldives, a co-founder, did not send any senior official to the meeting.
