New Delhi: China on Monday said it had not “grabbed” any land or island in the Maldives, lambasting former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed for reportedly making allegations to this effect.
Beijing also pointed out that development projects involving it were started during the tenure of Mr Nasheed himself, adding that Mr Nasheed seemed to have made the remarks for “political” motives.
In what is being seen as a veiled message to India, China described the situation in the archipelago nation as the “internal affairs” of that country.
Incidentally, Beijing has emerged as the main backer of the government of President Abdulla Yameen, who had declared emergency in his tiny nation a few days ago after refusing to obey a Supreme Court order there.
Exiled former President Nasheed is currently based in Sri Lanka.
In a statement from New Delhi, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in India counsellor Ji Rong said, “Recently, former Maldivian President Nasheed made a lot of false remarks... He pointed fingers at the practical cooperation between China and Maldives and alleged that China engaged in so called ‘land grabbing’ of Maldivian islands, which undermines the security of the Indian Ocean region. These allegations are apparently groundless with no regard to facts.”
