Nasheed pledges to re-negotiate China loans if opposition wins election

Former President and leader of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has pledged to renegotiate China loans with the current administration if the opposition triumphs in the upcoming Presidential Elections.

According to reuters, Nasheed had said in an interview that China has "dragged the Maldives into a debt trap" and any future government formed by the opposition will be unable to repay the loans unless a review cuts them to real value.

Nasheed, now living in Sri Lanka, said President Abdulla Yameen’s government had given China a contract to build a (0.9-mile) bridge in Male, the capital, at a cost of USD 300 million, or about four times the government estimates.

Nasheed had added that this was just one example and that the opposition has to deal with that.

Nasheed said that total loans to build infrastructure provided by China's EXIM Bank should "easily be more than USD 2.5 billion" or about equivalent to the Indian Ocean archipelago’s GDP.

“They have done this through creating a debt trap and then using debt as a disciplining agent,” said Nasheed in the interview.

The government debt repayment to China will be about half of 2020's total revenue, USD 750 million.

“There is no way whatsoever we would be able to do that in 2020 and no one is going to give us the money. None of the Chinese projects have been tendered. We do not know the amount, we do not know the terms, we do not know who is taking it and we do not know the government’s obligation on it. We would have to renegotiate. It is a big cheat. We can’t agree to pay this amount. But we will pay the real amount.” Nasheed added.

The former President who was granted political asylum in Britain after having been granted a medical leave, is unable to return to Maldives as that would mean going back to prison. He was convicted over terror allegations and sentenced to 13 years in prison a trial that was criticized by both the international community and Maldivian opposition.

Since his announcement of his bid for candidacy in May, the Elections Commission (EC) had released a statement saying that convicted prisoners cannot run for office. When Nasheed's "Jazeera Raees" campaign kicked off, EC had threatened the MDP of dissolution and gone as far as to barge into MDP premises on the day of the primary ballots under a court order to halt the primaries, but had instead confiscated ballot boxes.

While Nasheed has since been handed over MDP's ticket for the Presidential Election, Jumhooree Party (JP)'s leader Qasim Ibrahim is also to bid his candidacy for the election.