Maldives: Is India Running Out of Options?
By Major General S B Asthana, SM, VSM, Chief Instructor, USI of India
New Delhi, Sep 17, 2018: A hectic campaigning is on for elections in the Maldives scheduled for 23 September 2018 and postponement seems unlikely. With past record of President Yameen’s autocratic use of power to crush any opposition in the recent past, the contest between him and the opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) may/may not be fair. It may well be marred with large-scale election rigging/fraud in case President Yameen feels that he may well land up on the losing side.
The Maldives continues to be a matter of Security interest to India, due to the proximity of the archipelago to its western coast and Indian strategic stakes there. The Chinese desire of land grab (Through debt trap diplomacy), support to dictatorial democracy under Yameen, and the other possibilities of radicalization in the Maldives archipelago are also a lookout signal for world community, as a sizeable trade from Gulf to Pacific through the Indian Ocean passes through eight degree channel between Maldives and India.
The diplomatic tug of war in the Maldives seems to be going in favor of China as it seems to have gained a stronghold on President Yameen through “Debt Trap Diplomacy”, with the inauguration of China funded Sinamale Bridge, which India chose to boycott. It is a flagship Chinese infrastructure project linking capital Male with the airport island, also referred as China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, with a heavy loan of $72 million besides $116 million grant by Chinese. President Yameen hopes that the optics of this project will perhaps get him some relief from down sliding domestic popularity for the next elections scheduled later this month, after dictatorial acts of targeting Supreme Court Judges and political opponents, unwanted emergency, and bulldozing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, without a debate in Majlis.
Junking ‘India First Policy’: Current crisis with India
President Yameen seems to have unofficially junked the ‘India First Policy’, when it clearly asked India to remove its second gifted naval chopper (ALH Dhruv) from the Lammu atoll, on expiry of Letter of Exchange (LoE). Lammu being a wide atoll has a potential to be developed into a military base. It is widely believed that Chinese want to build an ocean observatory there, which could be a part of ‘Incremental Encroachment Strategy’, (which could later develop it into military base as it happened in South China Sea) together with ‘Debt Trap’ for a land grab, in case the Maldives is unable to pay back the debt, as it has happened in many other countries. The other helicopter located at Addu Atoll is also significant being the southernmost island.
Why the Maldives can’t be ignored by India?
The Maldives archipelago is strategically located in the Arabian Sea very close to Island of Minicoy (Part of India) with Eight Degree Channel separating the two countries. The shipping from the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman passes through Minicoy and Maldives before sailing eastwards towards Sri-Lanka/ Malacca Straits/ the Java Sea/ Lombok Strait. Similarly, the shipping from the North Pacific Ocean, coming westward on its way to Gulf through these areas also passes through this channel, if it wants to avoid longer route circumventing Maldives archipelago. It is estimated that nearly half of the world’s shipping, including crucial oil for Japan and China, passes through these choke points, hence control of these choke points is a major strategic concern. Its proximity to India with the growing influence of China is another cause of concern, as it is learnt that China has plans to make a Joint Observation Station in Mukunudhu, together with a submarine base. Besides sham democracy under President Yameen, its new found love with Pakistan with their Army Chief visiting the Maldives, and potential for radicalization is also an Indian concern.