India media reported today citing Indian government officials, that Indian government is ready to give a loan of one billion dollars to Maldives if Maldives agrees to permanent deployment of Indian military in the Maldives. The one billion dollars will apparently be used to repay loans to China.
However, if we look into the facts of the matter, Maldives is not in a situation where Maldives should give up the sovereignty to get a loan. The loans given by China has a grace period of 5 years and it has to be returned in 20 years.
Hence the loans borrowed in 2015 has to be repaid starting from 2020. That is still 2 years from now on. So, giving up our sovereignty to pay off a loan that has to be paid in 2 years over a period of 20 years is unreasonable.
Many Indian newspapers are reporting saying that Maldives is in dire need of financial assistance. People are wondering why Indian needs to setup military bases in Maldives despite the two countries being in a close proximity. It will take less than thirty minutes to come from India to Maldives.
Even now there are Indian soldiers in the Maldives operating the helicopters gifted by the Indians and at the military hospital. Hence, it is unclear why Indian wants permanent deployment of troops in the Maldives.
Maldivian and Indian military has close relations and they conduct trainings once or twice a year.
