Maldives new president asks India to withdraw its military

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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...