Mohamed Muizzu eyes closer ties with China

The Maldives stands at a geopolitical crossroads ahead of its presidential runoff vote with the frontrunner, a former construction minister, set on demolishing India’s influence and building stronger ties with China.

The archipelago nation, better known for its upmarket beach resorts and celebrity vacationers, sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes.

The vote on the chain of atolls — scattered some 800km across the equator — takes place with growing Western concern at China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, with rival India part of the Quad, a strategic alliance alongside the US, Australia and Japan.

Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu is the protege of former leader Abdulla Yameen, who steered the archipelago towards Beijing’s orbit while in office and became an eager recipient of financial largesse from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure programme.

Muizzu won just over 46 percent of Saturday’s first-round vote with incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who presided over a restoration of ties with traditional benefactor India, trailing on 39 percent.

Foreign policy is set to dominate the campaign before the September 30 runoff, with both men sharply divided on managing the India-China rivalry.

Muizzu told an online meeting with Chinese Communist Party representatives last year that a return to power of his Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) would “script a further chapter of strong ties between our two countries.”

Now the mayor of the capital Male, Muizzu also spearheaded the $200-million China-Maldives friendship bridge linking his island city to the country’s main airport while serving in the previous government.

Last month, he marked the fifth anniversary of the bridge by praising the “visionary leadership” of both his patron Yameen and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But any turn back to Beijing would come at the expense of ties with New Delhi.

“Should Muizzu win, he is likely to reset relations with India,” retired senior civil servant Imad Masood told AFP. “He will not go overboard like Solih did with India.”

Solih beat Muizzu’s mentor Yameen in a landslide election win five years ago and moved swiftly to repair relations with New Delhi.