Maldives new president asks India to withdraw its military

The Maldives’ new President, Mohamed Muizzu, has asked India to withdraw its soldiers from the country after campaigning on changing the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago’s “India first” policy. Muizzu won the presidential election in September, defeating Ibrahim Solih in a runoff after promising to remove a 75-person Indian military deployment. India and China have been competing for influence in the region, with the alliance behind Muizzu thought to be more pro-China. “The Maldivian people had given him (Muizzu) a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives,” the president’s office said in a statement on Saturday. India’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At his inauguration on Friday, Muizzu said, “I will ensure that this country has no foreign military presence on its soil.” Muizzu made the request to Kiren Rijiju, India’s minister for earth sciences, who was representing India at the president’s inauguration, it said. “It was agreed that the two governments would discuss workable solutions for continued cooperation,” a senior Indian government official said on condition of anonymity, without clarifying whether India would return its military.