| by B.Raman
( December 14,
2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The decision of the Government of President
Mohammad Waheed of the Maldives to terminate the contract given to a consortium
headed by an Indian company to run the Ibrahim Nasser International Airport of
Male has given rise to speculation that China might have nudged the Maldivian
Government to terminate the contract and that Beijing might ultimately emerge
as the beneficiary of the termination with a Chinese company being made
responsible for the running of the airport.
 |
| Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie with his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony at South Block in New Delhi Photo: V.V. Krishnan |
2. Apart from
the fact that the termination of the contract was preceded by a visit to Male
by the Chinese Defence Minister Gen.Liang Guanglie during the course of visits
to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India and was followed by a visit to Beijing by
Mr.Mohammed Nazim, the Maldivian Minister for Defence, National Security and
Transport, earlier this week, no other evidence has been forthcoming in
corroboration of this speculation.
3.The fact that
Mr.Nazim handled the entire affair relating to the contract has added to
suspicions that his visit to Beijing might have been utilized by him to brief
his Chinese counterpart on the reasons and implications of the termination and
to seek Chinese co-operation in running the airport.
4. During his
stay in Bejing, Mr.Nazim met on December 11,2012, Gen.Xu Qiliang, Vice-Chairman
of the Central Military Commission of Communist Party of China (CPC), followed
by a metting with Gen.Liang. There are so far no reports of his having met
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao or Mr.Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist
Party of China (CPC), who is also the new Chairman of the CMC.
5.According to
the Xinhua news agency, Gen.Xu said during their meeting that the two countries
have in recent years increased mutual political trust, expanded trade and
economic cooperation, diversified cultural exchanges and set an example for
countries to treat each other as equals and cooperate with sincerity.
6.He added: “The
two militaries should continue to enhance high-level contact, strengthen
pragmatic cooperation, expand the scope of cooperation and upgrade military
relations."
7.According to
the Xinhua, Mr.Nazim said the Maldives hoped to strengthen communication and
cooperation between the two countries as well as their militaries, jointly
address common challenges and meet opportunities so as to promote the two
countries' relations to a higher level.
8.The Xinhua
quoted Gen.Liang as telling Mr.Nazim: "China has always positively
developed its military relations with the Maldives and hopes to enhance
communication and cooperation, promote the construction of both militaries and
safeguard regional peace and stability.”
9.After taking
over as the President earlier this year, President Mohammad Waheed Hassan had visited Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province
of China, in the first week of September,2012, to attend the second
China-Eurasia Expo.
10. During his
stay in Urumqi, he met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao,who reportedly assured
him that China would provide assistance to the Maldives to counter climate
change. Hailing the sound bilateral ties over the past four decades since the
establishment of diplomatic relations, Mr.Wen said the two nations had set up a
good example for countries of different sizes that treat each other equally and
conduct cooperation in a friendly way, and that China would continue supporting
the Maldives in economic and social development.
11.Mr. Waheed
described China as a reliable
friend and added that the Maldives was
willing to increase communications with China in regional and international
affairs, enhance their pragmatic cooperation and join hands with China to deal
with global challenges including climate change, and advance the bilateral
relationship into a new phase.
12.Three
agreements were signed on September 2,2012, between the two Governments in the
presence of the Maldivian President and Prime Minister Wen, providing for
Chinese assistance worth US $ 500 million.
13.These amounts
included the grants under the annual economic and technical assistance program
by the Chinese government, and a preferential loan of US $ 150 million from the
EXIM Bank of China for the onstruction of 1500 houses in the Maldives.
14.A press note
issued by the President’s office in Male highlighted the fact that this was the
first time that agreements had been signed in the presence of the heads of
governments of the two countries and that the agreements were signed in Urumqi,
a Muslim area of China.
15.It is my
assessment that China’s immediate and medium-term interest in the Maldives wll
be in establishing a communications base similar to what it had in the Coco
Islands of Myanmar to facilitate communications with the Chinese anti-piracy
patrols in the Gulf and to snoop on Indian naval communications and monitor
Indian satellite and missile launches.
16. Whether the
new Government of the Maldives in its petulance towards India will oblige
Beijing remains to be seen. The Maldives has considerable dependence on India
in national security matters. Whenever Maldivian Governments have faced threats
to their internal security and natural disasters, they had generally sought
Indian assistance. The rapidity with which India can rush to the assistance of
the Maldives, China cannot. It will be unwise and suicidal for any Government
in Male to reduce the dependence on India in national security matters and turn
to the Chinese, but one never knows.
17.India needs
to closely monitor the developments without jeopardizing the mutual security
assistance programs that have been built up with the Maldives since 1979.
( The writer is
Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and,
presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of
the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com. Twitter:
@SORBONNE75 )
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