Pompeo Announces Planned Embassy In Maldives As Counterweight To China

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the US intends to build its first Embassy in the capital of the Maldives, Male.

• Usually this news would not make waves, but the Maldives has become a key strategic player in the ongoing great power struggle in the Indian Ocean, and wider South Asia region between India, China, and the US.
• The Maldives became a close ally of China under former President Abdulla Yameen, building up major debts to Beijing in the process as Chinese firms embarked on vast infrastructure projects on the island archipelago nation.
• Speaker of the Maljis (parliament) and former President Mohamed Nasheed has estimated that the Maldives could owe China as much as UD3.1bn, over half of the country's annual GDP. More conservative estimates put the debt at USD1.1-1.4bn, still a large sum for a small economy.
• In another Indian Ocean nation, Sri Lanka, the gov't was forced to cede 70% stake on a 99 year lease on a naval port to China after defaulting on its debt to Beijing.
• The US and India have significant concerns that if a similar situation were to occur in the Maldives it would provide Beijing with a second strategic foothold in the Indian Ocean, at a time when China is also seeking to expand its control of various islands in the South and East China seas.