Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney on Wednesday blasted Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu for allowing China to dock its research ship in Male. He said China is aggressively engaged in mapping the Indian Ocean bed and collecting seismic and bathymetric data to facilitate submarine operations in India's maritime backyard. "And the Maldives, under its new Islamist-leaning, pro-China president, is becoming an enabler," said the author.
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Under Mohamed Muizzu, the Maldives have tilted towards China. After he assumed power in November last year, Muizzu's administration decided to terminate a bilateral agreement that permitted New Delhi to collaborate in hydrographic survey of Maldivian territorial waters, and asked India to withdraw its about 80-plus military personnel tasked with rescue and relief in the disaster-prone archipelago nation.
Maldives' Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that a Chinese research vessel was on its way to Male but said it will not conduct any research in the country's waters in the Indian Ocean. The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03 will only make a port call "for rotation of personnel and replenishment" while in its waters, the ministry said in a statement.
However, the Indian geostrategist said that this claim was laughable as Male had no capability to detect such activity. "The Muizzu government claim that the PLA-linked ship would not conduct oceanographic research in the Maldivian waters is laughable as the Maldives has zero capability to detect such activity," he said.
Chellaney, however, noted that Muizzu's latest provocation, by mocking the security concerns of the traditionally friendly India, is unlikely to escape scot-free.
On January 22, Chellaney, the author of 'Water: Asia's New Battleground', said China has stepped up its survey of the Indian Ocean, including the seafloor, to facilitate submarine operations in the Indian Ocean.
"If China were to open a potent maritime front against India, it would complete India's strategic encirclement," he said while sharing an article titled "China's Dual-Use Research Operations in the Indian Ocean."
India and China have been competing for influence in Maldives, which is just hundreds of miles away from Kerala. New Delhi has in the past opposed similar visits by other Chinese research vessels to Sri Lanka, another key neghbour of India. Colombo has denied permission for such vessels to dock at its ports since 2022.
(With inputs from Reuters)