Known to wealthy travellers for its white-sand beaches and luxurious resorts, the Maldives has emerged as the latest arena for the intensifying geostrategic rivalry between China and India — two Asian giants vying for influence in the Indian Ocean.
This week, 234,000 voters in the tiny island nation played a key role in this new Great Game, taking part in an election that ousted Abdulla Yameen, their autocratic president who had become hostile to India even as he grew closer to China.
The overwhelming triumph of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih — the mild-mannered politician backed by the Maldives’ fragmented opposition — is considered an important strategic victory for India. New Delhi has watched with alarm as Beijing, through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, has made deep inroads into what India once considered its natural sphere of influence.