Exiled former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, who is fighting for the right to contest a presidential poll this year, said on Monday that land grabbing by China was threatening peace and stability in the Indian Ocean. Current top breaking Philippine headlines regarding the nation, world, metro manila, regions and exclusive
COLOMBO – Exiled former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, who is fighting for the right to contest a presidential poll this year, said on Monday that land grabbing by China was threatening peace and stability in the Indian Ocean. However, the administration of President Abdulla Yameen said Nasheed, who has been in exile on medical grounds from a 13-year jail sentence, should name the islands grabbed by China if he knew of any land grabbing. The island nation has been mired in political unrest since its first democratically elected leader Nasheed was ousted in 2012. He was later sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges after a trial denounced as hasty and unfair by the United Nations human rights chief. "There is land grab going on that threatens not just the Maldives, but the peace and the stability of the entire region. A large, emerging power is busy buying up the Maldives," Nasheed told reporters in Colombo. When asked to name the power to which he was referring, he said: "China".
