Maldives’ new pro-China president-elect vows to kick out Indian military

Mohamed Muiz told his supporters gathered on Monday night at a celebration of his election victory that he wouldn’t stand for a foreign military staying in the Maldives against the will of its citizens.

“The people have told us that they don’t want foreign military here,” he said.

Outgoing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was elected president in 2018, was battling allegations by Muiz that he had allowed India an unchecked presence in the country. Muiz’s party, the People’s National Congress, is viewed as heavily pro-China.

Muiz’s main campaign theme was about an alleged threat to the Maldives’ sovereignty by some Indian military personnel on an island, part of the party’s years-long “India out” strategy.

Pro-China candidate wins Maldives presidency

Solih insisted that the Indian military’s presence in the Maldives was only to build a dockyard under an agreement between the two governments and that his country’s sovereignty won’t be violated.

Yameen was transferred on Sunday from prison to house arrest, already fulfilling one of Muiz’s campaign promises before he officially takes office on November 17.

The Maldives is made up of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, located by the main shipping route between the East and the West.