Exclusive | India and the US over China: Maldives picks a side in the Indian Ocean
- Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid tells the Post the islands back Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy and share India’s ‘security concerns’
- Interview comes as President Xi Jinping is in Myanmar to finalise port deal that will boost China’s presence in the Indian Ocean
That was the message from the Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, who told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview on Thursday that the island chain would back Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy – widely seen by critics as aimed at containing China.
Shahid described India as a “special” friend and said the two countries had the “same needs, same security concerns” regarding China’s attempts to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean.
The interview with foreign minister Shahid came shortly after India’s navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh told the Raisina Dialogue, a global conference on international relations being hosted in New Delhi, that the Chinese navy’s presence in the Indian Ocean was increasing rapidly, impinging on India’s sovereignty. Singh warned such concerns would only grow in the future.