MAL, Maldives, April 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Maldives President Mohamed
Muizzu is a strong advocate of Chinese investment and his party's landslide
parliamentary election victory will help him deliver on a promise to return
the atoll nation to Beijing's orbit.

The 45-year-old's People's National Congress decimated its pro-Indian rival
to secure an iron-clad two-thirds majority at Sunday's polls for the 93-
member assembly.

A British-educated civil engineer, Muizzu was an unlikely candidate for the
presidency in September after serving as construction minister in the
government of his mentor Abdulla Yameen.

But Yameen's jailing for corruption saw Muizzu tapped to lead the party as
his proxy in an election fought on whether the small but strategically placed
nation aligns itself with China or India.

Soon after his presidential victory, in a clear signal of his intent he
eschewed tradition to make Beijing -- rather than New Delhi -- the
destination for his first state visit.

He signed a raft of agreements in the Chinese capital aimed at boosting
bilateral cooperation and securing funding for housing, bridges and airports.

As construction minister Muizzu had overseen several Chinese-funded
infrastructure projects including a $200-million bridge linking the capital
Male with the archipelago's main airport, and went on to become the city's
mayor.

He told Chinese Communist Party officials during an online meeting in 2022
that his party's return to power would expand the "strong ties between our
two countries".

- 'India out' -

Muizzu's back-to-back election successes have hinged on a sustained campaign
against India's outsized political and economic clout in the Maldives.

"The 'India out' campaign helped him at the presidential election and again
at the parliamentary election," a senior aide told AFP.

"People also believe that going with China will ensure that the work
(construction) will happen very quickly."

New Delhi has a history of entanglements with affairs in Maldives, including
the deployment of soldiers to thwart a 1988 coup attempt.

Its influence has been a periodic source of resentment in the Muslim-majority
nation.

In 2022, an Islamist group stormed a football stadium in Male to break up an
Indian-backed public yoga session, with police firing tear gas to disperse
the protesters.

Muizzu fashioned himself as the custodian of the national interest by
pledging to free the country from interference by its northern neighbour.

Since coming to power, Muizzu has ordered India to withdraw its small
military detachment by May 15.

He has bought drones from Turkey to replace the three Indian-donated aircraft
that were used to patrol the vast maritime boundary of the country.

Last week a court overturned Yameen's conviction and ordered his release.

The architect of their party's eager embrace of Beijing's financial largesse
through the Belt and Road Initiative, the former president had been serving
an 11-year jail term for bribery and money laundering.

- Rising waters -

The Maldives -- some 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered 800 kilometres (500
miles) across the equator -- is one of the countries most vulnerable to sea
level rises caused by global warming.

Muizzu is pushing for the construction of fortress islands to withstand the
waters.

He has vowed that the country will not be abandoned, despite a predecessor
once warning that authorities may have to buy land in Australia or elsewhere
to relocate Maldivians should it sink under the rising waves.

In an interview with AFP soon after his election, Muizzu said he was seeking
$500 million to build fortified islands so that they will not have to flee
their homeland.

"If we need to increase the area for living or other economic activity, we
can do that," Muizzu said. "We are self-sufficient to look after ourselves".