New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said though bilateral ties with the Maldives may have seen ups and downs, they were “not broken and cannot be broken”.
Addressing her annual press conference, Swaraj said India plays the role of a counselor and gives humanitarian assistance to the island nation. “Maldives is our neighbour. ‘India First’ is part of their foreign policy. In ties with Maldives, whichever government has been in power (in India), there have been ups and downs,” Swaraj said.
“There had been ups and downs in the past, there are (ups and downs) now also. But ties with Maldives are not broken and connot be broken,” she asserted.
Earlier Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said Maldives is a “challenge” for India at the moment as its current government is more inclined towards China.
India’s relation with Maldives went to a rough patch after it criticised the Abdulla Yameen government for imposing a 45-day emergency in the archipelago nation earlier this year
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