By Baran Das Gupta
From the article:
Winds of change have started blowing in the Maldives after the September 23 presidential elections, which saw the defeat of former President Abdulla Yameen who ruled the tiny island nation with an iron hand for five years from 2013. Even after he was defeated by Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the country was abuzz with the rumour that Yameen would try to cling on to power arbitrarily. Fortunately, the doomsday sayers were proved wrong and Solih is going to be sworn in on November 17.
Already, imprisoned former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been released from jail. This happened within a week of the election. Now, the Election Commission of the Maldives has threatened to sue the ruling Maldives Progressive Party for defamation, which was unthinkable even a few weeks ago. The MPP had accused the EC of massively rigging the election in favour of Solih. The poll body has taken strong offence to this baseless charge.
Exiled president Mohamed Nasheed, now living in Sri Lanka, is expected to return to his country soon. He has demanded that all the agreements that Yameen Government had entered into with China between 2013 and 2018 be reviewed. This has immediately provoked Beijing into coming out with an angry response. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that "If certain forces wantonly harm Chinese interests out of political purposes, China will firmly oppose it and resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."
Over the years, the Maldives' dependence on China has increased heavily. The Maldives Independent daily reported on May 17 this year that Chinese lending is putting the Maldives at the risk of 'debt distress', that is, a condition when the debtor country cannot pay back the debt. The daily quoted from a study report by the Centre for Global Development, which says China is "heavily involved" in three major projects in the Maldives.
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