Despite one “muscular diplomatic” debacle after another, India has been unrelenting in its bullying attitude toward its small and weak neighbors. India is imposing another economic blockade on a third South Asian country, Maldives.
In 1981, India and Maldives mutually agreed on the quantity of supplies of essential commodities to the republic. However, the office of India’s Foreign Trade Directorate General issued a notice on June 20 this year that curtailed 50-94% of the supply of food items. The unilateral curtailment of food supplies runs counter to the spirit of articles VIII and IX of the 1981 agreement. It is yet another economic sanction imposed by India on Maldives in reaction to latter’s growing engagement with China in recent years.
After assuming office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited all of India’s neighbors in South Asian except Maldives. Although his visit to the island republic was scheduled for March 2015, he canceled it unilaterally, and Indian media quoted sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that his visit was canceled because of Maldivian political turmoil. However, the real reason was Maldives’ increasing rendezvous with China.
A free-trade agreement (FTA) was signed between Maldives and China on December 8, 2017, during Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen’s four-day state visit to China. It was Maldives’ first FTA with any country and China’s second with a South Asian country, after Pakistan. Last December, the Maldivian parliament endorsed the FTA with China, and the pro-Indian opposition boycotted the vote.
In return for China’s backing, Yameen assured China of full support for its ambitious Maritime Silk Road, which is an integral part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
It seems that the power struggle within the domestic political spectrum of Maldives is to some degree between India and China. After the full backing of China, the Maldivian president removed the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Maldives, and suspended three local councilors who had called on the Indian ambassador. Some Indians believe that Maldives would not have dared rebuff India in a manner they never imagined without China’s full backing.
It is important to note why Maldives took these steps. In reality, Maldives was losing patience with Indian snooping in minor domestic politics and Indian ambassadors’ behavior toward its political leaders.
Nepal’s experience
Three years back, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly drafted and finalized a constitution in mid-September 2015, and the date was fixed to promulgate it. The constitution was approved by more than 85% of the assembly members.
Three days before the constitution was proclaimed, India sent its foreign secretary at the time, Subramanya Jaishanker, as the Indian prime minister’s special envoy to Kathmandu to seek postponement of the decree. The foreign minister of Nepal at that time, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, and other leaders disclosed that Jaishanker behaved undiplomatically and insolently and his tone of voice was threatening and obnoxious. However, Nepal’s political leadership politely rejected his proposal, and the constitution was declared on September 20, 2015.
Then India imposed an economic blockade on Nepal that lasted for five months. Some 2,500 people, among them the elderly and children, lost their lives because of pneumonia and asthma triggered by the shortage of fuel. India sent a seven-point agenda to amend the constitution of Nepal and also leaked it to the press. The text of Nepali Madhesis’ demands and India’s officially sent demand had exactly the same wording.
On December 8, 2015, United Nations agencies and their donors issued a joint statement in which they expressed their “deepest concern” over the severity of the shortage of lifesaving drugs, food and other essential supplies throughout Nepal. However, India did not lift the sanction despite the looming humanitarian crisis.
In response to the Indian blockade, Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli made plans to visit Beijing to sign a trade and transit treaty with China in March 2016 that would eventually end the Indian monopoly of Nepal’s access to maritime routes. Then India invited Oli to visit Delhi quickly, and before his visit, it lifted the economic blockade. Indian media and foreign-policy experts accused Nepal of a tilt toward China, but they overlooked the fact that India had long been pushing Nepal toward China. After Nepal signed the trade and transit treaty with China, India started innocuous diplomatic dealings with Nepal.
Bhutan’s experience
This is not the whole story of Indian muscular diplomacy. India curtailed a subsidy for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) between the first and second rounds of Bhutanese general elections in 2013. As a result, the ruling party of Jigme Thinley lost the general election, as India wanted. India resumed the LPG subsidy with little explanation later on. It had removed the LPG subsidy in reaction to Thinley’s meeting with the Chinese leadership without prior consultation with India and wanted his electoral defeat.
Similarly, the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, relinquished the throne in 2006 voluntarily to his eldest son after ruling for 34 years. However, some analysts believe that India forced him to abdicate as he wanted to develop independent foreign relations with neighboring countries.
Now, many Bhutanese think that India’s actions were undue meddling in their country’s internal affairs. As a result, during the Doklam standoff between India and China last year, many Bhutanese became anti-India because of the overbearing behavior of New Delhi.
Indian political leaders, its foreign-policy regime, and media should change their mindsets and stop treating neighboring countries as administrative units of New Delhi. India needs to be mindful that these countries are sovereign and the people of these countries are masters of their wishes.
India is losing its traditional allies one after another in its neighborhood because of a myopic policy of “muscular diplomacy.” India always underestimates the sovereignty of its neighbors and overlooks the principles of peaceful coexistence.
India’s neighbors want to develop a warm and hospitable relationship with China, as it is a rule-maker in current global governance and the second-largest economy in the world. India is an unsuccessful South Asian regional player. Therefore, India needs to introspect past blunders and learn lessons from them.
The practical and productive way to conduct diplomacy is gentle persuasion and making offers, keeping the use of force and threats at a bay. “Muscular diplomacy” is obsolete, and continuing its use has instead been pushing India’s neighbors further toward China.
One more chu_iy_ had come to share his bakwas
Irfan Rana….ohh come on, my friend. You have many a thing to know about world politics.
Very idiotic review. It is sheer tym waste reading such an analysis. The so called master in international relation is himself a novice but he is advising india. Hahaha
I don’t appreciate this article. Why do india need to spend it’s resources on these neighbours as freebies. India never gets an honest and sincere response from the neighbours. We always respect others sovergnity and integrity of our neighbours. But our neighbours just expects only investment and free aids from us and gives hatred in return. Countries must learn from the blunders made by pakistan and srilanka by tilting towards china. Rest it’s up to them to run with india or fall in web of china
Comments by Indians prove . India has turned into a Hindu racists state. Not just Hindu extremists but even those who can read and write are also becoming racists
Muhammad Fayyaz "India’s total foreign exchange (Forex) reserves stand at US$426.0824 billion with foreign exchange assets (FCA) component at US$400.9782 billion, gold reserves at US$21.4842 billion, SDRs (Special Drawing Rights with the IMF) of US$1.5406 billion and US$2.0794 billion reserve position in IMF in the week to April 13, 2018, as per Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement published on April 20, 2018."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_reserves_of_India
Biggest joke is blaming Nehru for imperial approach to neighbours.. had he just taken what was coming India way, at least Nepal would have been part of India..
And this author as a true Communist would be still blaming current govt..
India under extremist BJP regime is on fast track towards antique pre-historic times. Not only Maldievians but all other neighbours of India have come to know that their future is not linked with India as a friend. India has proved that she never miss the chance of stabbing in the back. Pakistanis know this fact since independence, these small countries are recognising the true Indian face very very late. Anyhow, it’s never too late, SARC countries can move foward without India, all must cooperate with each other. extremist Hudutva BJP regime is dreaming of becoming a policeman of the region, being drunk the cow piss they are forgetting that they are infact dreaming about their own annihilation. Even these small countries like Bhutan, Maldieves and Nepal can stuck in their neck and become a hard morsel to swallow.
Gus Sinha, you are absolutely right because it’s the country who has received the most loans than any other country in the world from ING and world bank.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said India’s external debt stood at $485.6 billion at the end of March 2016, a rise of $10.6 billion year-on-year (YoY).Jul 2, 2016
With $485 billion external debt, can India weather currency storm …
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com › a…
Modi’s policy towards it’s neighbours is the correct one after decades of benevolence which brought only shame to India. Even if India is cool, they will still run to China to antagonize India. We can’t escape it and we better get the real picture on our neighbours and where their loyalties lie. A traitor will always be traitor. Better know them early than later.
The strange thing about India is that most Indians, i.e, their leaders, foreign policy managers and media in particular, and also at least a section of the common observers who comment on such articles seem to share what could probably be classified as "the Indian mindset" that somehow benumb them into supporting even the most egregious acts of their government, a phenomenon probably akin to the psyche of the then Nazi Germany. For instance, while the whole of United States is presently up in arms against Trump administration’s inhuman act of separating the children from their allegedly unlawful immigrant parents and keep them in a separate camp, none in India spoke against their government’s illegal, inhuman and mindless blockade Nepal, simply because the sovereign neighbour decided to promulgate its own constitution in 2015. Besides that "Indian mindset" has not only been harmful to all its neighbours, driving them to China’s embrace in the process; it has also failed to take India’s own interest into account too. For instance, India’s number one problem at present is the lack of employment opportunities for the tens of millions who join the India’s workforce every year, and India herself, despite PM Modi’s election time assurances, has miserably failed to create them on its own. As things stand, the only country that could be of significant help in this regard has been China. But, pretending to be a superpower and a rival for China to reckon with, India has refused to join the latter’s Belt and Road initiative that otherwise promises so much for India’s creaking transport infrastructure and chronically miniscule manufacturing sector in particular, creating in the process the much needed employment opportunities in a scale that India needs. This is where the introspection prescribed by the author is urgently called for
If Nehru professed imperial ambitions then he had every opportunity to absorb Nepal into the fledgling Indian state when the King of Nepal offered to seced to India – which Nehru plainly refused. Further, even the small island nations of Sri Lanka, Maldives which were beset with strife and had no defenses to speak of could have been absorbed into the Indian union if imperial ambitions were Nehru’s goals. Instead Columbo became a base from which US forces and British Forces operated for decades. Similarly even after the decimation of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan and the liberation of Bangladesh – the Govt of India refused to annex the whole or even a part of the territory and nurtured the success today known as Bangladesh. Even in the case of Bhutan – a state whose protection was guaranteed by the Indian State – its independence, cultural and soverign integrity has been left intact by India. When Bhutan transitioned from a Monarchy to a democracy it was welcomed by India and India enabled the first free and fair elections in Bhutan through its election comission. Even in the case of Maldives, when its former President Gayoom was the victim of a violent military coup – it was India which retured order to Maldives and restored its governrment without any intention of reward or imperial ambitions.
Similarly it is through Indian’s steady and patient guidance that the feudal Nepali Monarchy was pressured into a building the first steps towards democracy . It was also India’s inolvement that ended the decades long civil war in Nepal between the Maoist insurgency and the Nepali state which culminated into the imperfect state it is in today.
Across the entire region – from Afghanistan to Maldives, India has always strived for stable democractic states without ethnic conflicts. Most endeavors have been successful – some not so much. But what is self-evident is that without Indian guidance, feudalism, monarchy and autocracy would have only led to conflict and perpetual instability.
Since when did democracies need certificate on "population living without fear" from a Islamist terror republic whose own Prime Minister admits to being a terrorist state ?
This is the talk of frustration and impotence from people who have no ability and live in fear. Even Pakistan with its nuclear weapons cannot take Kashmir, nor can China try to claim Arunachal Pradesh. All the rest are meaningless and apart from impotent Nepalis whose shame and humiliation was exposed during the earthquake when it was Indian helicopters and equipment that saved more lives than all Nepali and foreign aid groups combined
Sahil Prasai LOL Do you think India will not act on its nationalist interests when smaller neighbors try to exploit India-China by making them compete against each other ?
tomorrow if China-India come to an agreement they can swap your countries like chess pieces and distribute amongst themselves – what will you do then ?
What India has learnt is that these "smaller countries" which India protected and guided towards democracy and stable societies are only intersted in being parasites on India with nothing to offer in return . In fact countries like Nepal are an active danger and threat to India with the open borders as already many hijackings of Indian aircraft have taken place from Nepal causing Indian lives.
Ahmed Ismail Why don’t you ask Nasheed – he will tell you.
It is past time you can play Indians for granted by exploiting India for everything and then acting against india repeatedly.
So far India has not reacted – but that time is slowly coming to a close. Do not blame India for the consequences later as China cannot save your Admiral-General-President.
This is the problem with Nepali academics – they are substandard even in basic understanding about Indian policy which they obsess over.
From the source quoted in this article itself:
>>"For 2018-19, India decided to make some changes. The Indian government finalised the quota “based on the average utilisation by the Maldives in the last three years”. Utilisation was measured as the actual amount ‘lifted’ by the Maldives of these commodities in previous years."
Maldives is an island and it can’t be "blockaded" through just import restrictions from India – India’s rationalization of a quota does not constitute a blockade. Further, Maldives itself has not procured more than what the Indian Govt has allocated as it is the average of the "lifted" quantity over the past 3 years. Any excess requirements Maldives is more than free to acquire from India through the regular trade channels or from anywhere else.
Nepal’s obsession with the Indo-Bhutan relationship is found here with the spurious allegations and the freak conspiracy theories about Palace coups and election hijinks. The absurdity of claiming that Indian LPG subsidy provided to the Bhutanese Govt affected the local elections in a country where LPG is still not used by the majority is an amusing conspiracy theory peddled by the Nepali anti-India lobby.
These very same conspiracies and anxieties led to the Nepali antagonism against India when India refused to applaud their draft Constitution which treated the local indeginious Madhesi population as full citizens and denied them many rights that the upper class pahadi Nepalis enjoyed. It was also this anti-Indian anxiety and conspiracy theories which led to the Nepali Govt’s mistrust of their own Madhesi people which led to their mass arrests and persecution finally culminating in the border protests which they continue to blame on India despite the protesters being Nepali and the protests taking place in Nepal.
Start by opening jihadi madarssas
Ahmed Ismail you are the toilet that we have inherited in our neighbourhood
Prithvi Di he is a maowadi crticizing India using Maldives as a pretext.I want these countries to get a taste of Chinese benevolence. We should stop mollycoddling these nations and divert our resources inwards to develop India as a powerful nation