New Maldives government to begin untangling secret building deals with China amid warnings of ‘land grab’ and US$3 billion debt

• Unprecedented investment under the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ was agreed under secret terms, without other bids and at inflated prices that raised questions of corruption
• Critics of China’s massive infrastructure programme say it is mainly designed to further Beijing’s diplomatic and security objectives, and that poorer countries could be forced to surrender land or other resources as collateral