India offers $1.4bn to Maldives amid tussle with China

Bloomberg

India has offered the Maldives $1.4 billion through a credit line and budgetary support as the tiny island nation’s new government pivots from a pro-China foreign policy to one
focussed on its close neighbour India.
The loan agreement came after talks between newly-elected Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders discussed regional stability and defense cooperation as Solih visited the Indian capital on his first trip overseas as president.
The Maldivian leader made the visit as his nation reels from debt accumulated under the previous administration of pro-China strongman Abdulla Yameen, who had pursued close ties with Beijing — including a trade deal — and had alienated India.
“Both nations are committed to the peace, stability and security of the Indian Ocean region,” Modi said in New Delhi on Monday.
“Both nations have agreed not to allow their territory to be used against each other’s interests.”
In late September, the tiny nation of about 400,000 people voted Yameen out of office in a surprise election result that took on broader geopolitical significance as China’s Belt
and Road infrastructure-building initiative was generating anxiety in the region and in Washington.