A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
The original Dhivehi article was published on Rumaalu2.com website on 19th December 2017. The following is a loose translation: Although the Maldives got its independence in 1965, it was Indian influence that blocked the Maldives from enjoying full freedom. The assistance Indians extended in 1988 is something most Maldivians recognize and appreciate. However, most Maldivians […]
Is Maldives employing a typical Chinese tactic of using its state-controlled media to throw barbs at India and conveying its points of differences while the government sings a different tune of being friendly to New Delhi? This appears to be so. It’s also an eye-opener for the way Maldives under President Yameen has been tilting […]
The original Dhivehi article was published on Avas.mv website on 26th December 2017. The following is a loose translation: On President Abdulla Yameen’s current campaign trips to atolls, referring to the opposition coalition, he says as follows. ‘They are coconuts which cannot be identified from which type of tree it came from and just a […]
The Maldives manages to wriggle out of a sticky diplomatic situation involving regional power India Indo-Maldivian relations have been under strain… Maldives risks losing the look of a unitary state as stipulated in the Constitution The ball was in the Maldivian government’s court and President Yameen himself came out with a conciliatory statement on Sunday… […]
Last week, Maldives rushed through the much-criticised Free Trade Agreement with China in the Parliament, a move which is being perceived in New Delhi as Male cosying up to Beijing. This is also Maldives’s first FTA with any country. Now that the agreement has been signed between China and Maldives, India on Thursday said it expected […]
It’s confirmed now – the government of Maldives, headed by President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, has restricted the movements of Indian High Commissioner in Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra. Maldives’ Local Government Authority had issued an order on 11 December, saying that “all” foreign diplomats posted in the Maldives would henceforth require a prior approval of the home […]
After upsetting news for the Indian foreign policy establishment from Sri Lanka (99-year-long lease of Hambantota port to China) and Nepal (China-leaning Left alliance poised to form government after winning elections), there is yet another blow to South Block (India’s power corridors) from its neighbour and SAARC member, Maldives. The Indian Ocean nation, comprising 1,192 […]
United Nations — The 44-member Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) represents some of the world’s most vulnerable island nations fighting a virtually losing battle against rising sea levels triggered by global warming and climate change. A negotiating voice of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), AOSIS has membership drawn from all oceans and regions of […]
The most significant development during the recent visit of Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to China was the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between the two nations. Though this development does not give any special strategic advantage to China in the immediate future, it reinforces the theory that Maldives is on its […]