During his visit to China, Muizzu held talks with President Xi Jinping after which the two countries signed 20 agreements. (PTI)
In an apparent jibe at India amid the diplomatic row, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu Saturday said his country may be small but it “doesn’t give them the license to bully us”. He made the statement after completing his maiden five-day state visit to China.
“We may be small but this doesn’t give them the license to bully us,” said Muizzu, who is regarded as a pro-Beijing leader, said without naming any country in particular.
His comments come at a time when Maldives headed by Muizzu is involved in a diplomatic row with India over derogatory statements made by three Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he shared glimpses from his visit to the Lakshadweep islands, promoting tourism.
“Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 900,000 square km. Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean.” he added upon his arrival from China after concluding the state visit, the first after assuming office in November last year.
Asserting that the Indian Ocean “does not belong to a specific country,” Muizzu said, “This (Indian) Ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it.”
During the state visit, China and Maldives signed 20 agreements after talks between Muizzu and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two countries also signed an agreement to allow Maldives’ national airline, Maldivian, to conduct domestic flight operations in China.
“The two sides agree to continue firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their respective core interests,” a joint statement issued at the end of Muizzu’s talks with Chinese leaders said.
“China firmly supports the Maldives in upholding its national sovereignty, independence and national dignity, respects and supports the Maldives’ exploration of a development path that suits its national conditions, and firmly opposes external interference in the internal affairs of the Maldives,” the statement said, without referring to any country.
Muizzu’s visit to China is said to have been marred by the diplomatic row with India over derogatory remarks by his ministers against PM Modi and the release of a report by the EU Election Observation Mission of Maldives.
The EU report said the ruling coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People’s National Congress (PNC) deployed anti-India sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation in the 2023 presidential elections in which Muizzu won.
Soon after PM Modi’s post, some prominent Maldivian social media users responded to it with offensive, racist, xenophobic and derogatory comments targeted at Indians at large, as well as the Indian prime minister. Among them was Mariyam Shiuna, Maldives’ Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts, who wrote: “What a clown. The puppet of Israel Mr. Narendra diver with life jacket. #VisitMaldives #SunnySideOfLife”. In a now-deleted post, Shiuna also compared India to cow dung.
Another deputy ministry, a colleague of Shiuna in the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts in the Maldives, Malsha Sharif, made similar derogatory comments against India and the tourism campaign in the Lakshadweep. A member of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives also shared a photograph, believed to be that of the Bora Bora islands in the French Polynesia, claiming it was an image of an island resort in the Maldives.
In response to the mockery by Maldivians, some Indian social media users, in turn, vowed not to travel to the Maldives for their holidays and encouraged a boycott of Maldivian hotels and resorts. Others posted about the various ways in which India has offered assistance to the Maldives over the years and some of the more well-known aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The indian express
