“Mohamed Muizzu: The Maldives’ new president wants India out,” according to BBC, Oct. 22, 2023. Dr Mohamed Muizzu, who won the Maldives presidential election last month, is demanding India to withdraw its troops from the country. The alliance supporting Muizzu argues that the relationship between Malé and Delhi is a threat to the Maldives’ sovereignty and security. Muizzu’s alliance favors closer ties with China, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Maldives through loans and grants for infrastructure and development projects. However, India has also provided about $2 billion in development assistance to the country. In 2021, the Maldivian defense force reported that about 75 Indian military personnel were based in the country to operate and maintain Indian aircrafts, fueling suspicion and anger. Muizzu believes that the presence of these troops could put the Maldives at risk, especially as tensions between India and China escalate along their Himalayan border. He wants to review all the agreements the Maldives has signed with India in recent years and has spoken highly of Chinese infrastructure projects in the Maldives. However, his opposition alliance includes the party of former president Abdulla Yameen, who was instrumental in moving the Maldives closer to China. Given Yameen’s uneasy relationship with Delhi, it could be a struggle for Muizzu’s new alliance to balance ties with India. Muizzu is determined to emerge from the shadows of Yameen and is set to chart a new path both domestically and in the country’s foreign affairs. “We don’t want any foreign military boots on Maldivian soil… I promised this to the people of the Maldives and I will live up to my promise from day one.”