Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
couraging anti-India activities (as it has also done, directly or indirectly, in India's north-
ical and economic influence, and China is reported to be making territorial inroads across
its border in the north of the country.
Problems possibly created, or at least accentuated, by China have emerged in the Mal-
dives. This tiny nation of some 1,200 islands is generally regarded internationally as a se-
rene tourist destination, but it is facing a tide of Islamic conservatism that is creating social
and political instability and makes it open to diplomatic meddling. China opened a mis-
sion in Male, the capital, in March 2012, and the country's president, Mohamed Waheed,
met Wen Jiabao in China a month later, when $500m aid was agreed. Towards the end of
2012, the government cancelled a long-term build-and-operate airport contract with GMR,
ang Guangli, visited the islands. Mohammed Nazim, the Maldives minister for defence,
national security and transport, who handled the airport, had also just been to Beijing. This
showed a distinct pro-China tilt by the Maldives following a change of its government. Pre-
viously the islands had relied on Indian assistance, as was well illustrated in 1988 when
prisingly India, which is rarely adept at handling its neighbours, failed to deal smartly with
the airport situation and the contract was lost, which was widely seen as a gain for China.
In neighbouring Sri Lanka, where India has had an uneasy relationship for decades be-
cause of links between the Tamil communities in both countries, China has become an
increasingly good friend and large financial donor at a time when the country is desper-
ately short of international support. The island's government has been widely condemned
in the United Nations and elsewhere for alleged human rights violations and mass killings
in 2009, when it was fighting a guerrilla war that had been running for 26 years over a sep-
arate homeland for its minority Tamil community. Chinese companies have built infrastruc-
ture contracts worth some $4bn including the island's second international airport, opened
relations with the island are complicated by the politics of Tamil Nadu.
Bhutan's Happiness
The remote kingdom of Bhutan squeezed in the Himalayas between India and China is
Beijing's latest target. With a tiny population of fewer than 700,000, Bhutan has been a
virtual protectorate of India since September 1958 when Nehru rode there on a horse and
yak through high mountain passes for a prime ministerial visit. It remains the only totally
pro-India country on the subcontinent, though India's de facto control of its external links,
