NEW DELHI, March 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - India's navy has said it is bolstering
forces on "strategically important" islands close to the Maldives, with a new
base set to open just days before Male starts sending home Indian forces.

Relations between India and the Maldives have soured since pro-China
President Mohamed Muizzu won elections last year after promising to expel
Indian forces.

India is suspicious of China's growing presence in the archipelago nation,
which straddles key east-west international shipping routes, and the new base
will extend New Delhi's "operational surveillance" of the area, the navy said
in a statement late Saturday.

Muizzu has asked India to withdraw 89 security personnel based in the
Maldives to operate reconnaissance aircraft, with the first batch due to
leave by March 10 and all to depart within two months.

The new base, opening March 6 on India's Lakshadweep islands, will turn an
existing small detachment into an "independent naval unit", according to the
navy's statement.

India's Lakshadweep islands lie about 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the
Maldives, with the new naval base on the island of Minicoy situated at their
closest point.

India's navy already has a base on the Lakshadweep island of Kavaratti, but
the new base will be about 258 kilometres (160 miles) closer to the Maldives.

"Minicoy is the southernmost island of Lakshadweep which straddles the vital
sea lines of communications," the navy said.

It said the base will boost anti-piracy and anti-narcotic operations, and was
part of a policy to "incrementally augment security infrastructure at the
strategically important" islands.