By Al Arabiya
From the article:
The September 23 national election in the Maldives, the small island state in the Indian Ocean, was won emphatically by the joint opposition candidate Mohammed ‘Ibu’ Solih.
The incumbent President Abdulla Yameen has accepted defeat and the final results have demonstrated both the power of the ballot box and the limits to Beijing’s ability to shape the electoral outcome in favor of a dictatorial leader that it has supported politically and financially.
The opposition coalition in the Maldivian election cautioned the electorate that China is ensnaring smaller countries in a “debt-trap” from which they cannot recover in the short-tern, thereby compelling them to mortgage critical real estate for decades. As part of the election pitch, President Yameen was accused of ‘selling’ some distant islands to China and this perception gained ground due to developments in another Indian Ocean island – Sri Lanka.
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A March 2018 survey by the Centre for Global Development , Washington noted that 23 out of 68 nations that have received BRI related fiscal infusion were deemed to be “significantly or highly vulnerable to debt distress.” It further added that eight of the 23 nations were even more vulnerable and this list includes : Pakistan, Tajikistan, Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos. Maldives, Mongolia, and Montenegro.
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