President of Maldives to visit China Jan 8-12, Beijing says

The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, will pay a state visit to China from Jan. 8 to 12, the Chinese foreign ministry said in statement on Friday, in what would be a high-profile snub to the island nation's huge neighbour India.

Multiple calls by Reuters to the Foreign Ministry and President’s Office in Male on Friday - the weekend in the Maldives - to confirm the president's trip went unanswered.

Muizzu, who in November took over as president of the Indian Ocean nation made up of more than a hundred islands dotted with luxury resorts, issued an election pledge to remove a small contingent of some 75 Indian military personnel in the country and alter the Maldives's "India first" policy.

Asked to comment on Thursday about talk of President Muizzu making a state visit to China, New Delhi said the matter was out of its hands.

"It is for them to decide where they go and how they go about their international relations," Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, adding that he had no update on the removal of Indian military personnel from the islands.

While both New Delhi and Beijing are vying for influence in the region, Muizzu's government is considered to be leaning towards China.