Muizzu rode to power last year on an anti-India stance and within hours of taking oath demanded India to remove its personnel from the strategically located archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean.Muizzu’s government also allowed a sophisticated Chinese ‘research ship’ to dock at Male.Last week, the MNDF signed a deal with China’s military.Under this deal, China will supply ‘non-lethal’ weapons to the Maldives free of cost.The first group of Indian civilian personnel, which included 26 people, arrived on February 26 to replace the Indian military personnel operating a helicopter in Addu city.India also sent a new helicopter and transported the old helicopter used in Addu city for repairs.A ship carrying the new helicopter docked in Addu on February 29.President Muizzu asked India to withdraw nearly 90 military personnel from the Maldives and India agreed to replace the military personnel with civilians and to continue the operations of two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft provided to the country for providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services.The Maldives’ proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland’s western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) gives it significant strategic importance.
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