China rebukes Nasheed over Maldives land grab claims

Nasheed last month told reporters the Asian giant was on a shopping spree in the Maldives.

“A large, emerging power is busy buying up the Maldives,” he said. “Buying up our islands, buying up our key infrastructure, and effectively buying up our sovereignty. This land grab is very worrying.”

Regional tensions are threatening to escalate over a state of emergency in the Maldives. Nasheed has pleaded with China’s regional rival India for military assistance to resolve the crisis and he repeated the land grab claims in an Indian newspaper on Wednesday, prompting the rebuke.