China is meddling in Maldives’ internal matters, says former foreign minister Ahmed Naseem.

Naseem said this at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council.

Naseem is currently in New York meeting with senior United Nations (UN) officials on behalf of the joint opposition.

At the event, he accused China of interfering in Maldives’ domestic affairs by encouraging President Abdulla Yameen to double down on his oppression.

He said all the democratic gains have been lost since President Yameen assumed power in 2013, and that Maldives is now a “full-blown dictatorship”.

Naseem said China likes dictatorships because "dictators are easier to bribe, and dictatorships are easier to seduce into a Chinese debt trap."

He also said China is engaged in a massive land grab in the region, posing a major security threat to India and the entire Indian Ocean region.