On December 15, the pro-China President of Maldives took a decision that disappointed India. The President of Maldives decided to withdraw from the agreement signed between the Government of Maldives and the Government of India for the Hydrographic Survey of the Maldives. The agreement was signed with Indian Prime Minister Modi and former Maldives President Mohamed Solih. The new President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, used the slogan ‘India Out’ as his campaign theme in the last election. As soon as he became the President, India was informed to withdraw the Indian Army from Maldives. His second decision was to withdraw from the Survey Agreement signed with India.
Leaving the agreement, he said that the survey would be done by the Maldives. He said that surveying with another foreign country is a threat to the security of Maldives. The Maldivian President took this decision when the media reported that the Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 would arrive in Sri Lanka and the Maldives in January. Earlier, India and the United States had protested to Sri Lanka about these Chinese ships that came to Sri Lanka. But amid that protest, Chinese ships coming to Sri Lanka were allowed to come. President Ranil told the international media that these ships are not spy ships, they are research ships. Therefore, Sri Lanka cannot stop the arrival of those ships, Ranil said.
It didn’t take much time after Ranil said this. China’s Xian Yang Hong 3 ship had requested permission to come to Sri Lanka and Maldives. While seeking permission request was done, Maldives withdrew from India’s research agreement. After that, the Sri Lankan government announced that the arrival of foreign ships to Sri Lanka would be suspended for one year. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said that a one-year suspension will be imposed on foreign ships because there is an election and time is needed to prepare the environment for Sri Lanka to participate in research conducted by ships from foreign countries.
There is a similarity between the statement made by the Maldives as the reason for withdrawing from India’s research agreement and Sri Lanka’s reason for banning Chinese ships for a year. Maldives said that the research is being done by its own country. Sri Lanka said that Sri Lanka will also be involved in those researches later. Indian media suspects that China is behind the decision taken by Maldives regarding the Indian agreement. It is no secret that India is behind Sri Lanka’s decision regarding Chinese ships. It is not known if this is a tit-for-tat. Ranil knows that although China was needed to restructure the debt last year, China is not needed during the election period. It is impossible to say how China will endure this defeat that China suffered in the face of India
