India to open ‘strategically important’ navy base near China-friendly Maldives
- India’s navy is bolstering its forces on 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
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Relations between India and the Maldives have soured since pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu won elections last year after promising to expel Indian forces.
Maldives tells India to withdraw troops by March 15 as it draws closer to China
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.
Is India-China rivalry over Maldives set to deepen or ‘more fiction than fact’?
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.
