press trust of india
Beijing, Feb 9: China Friday said it was in touch with India to discuss a way to resolve the political turmoil gripping the Maldives and underlined that Beijing doesn’t want the issue to become another “flashpoint” in ties with New Delhi.
While China officially continues to maintain that there should be no external interference, especially in the light of reports that India’s special forces were being prepared for deployment, Beijing is also in touch with New Delhi to resolve the crisis, Chinese official sources said.
China doesn’t want Maldives to become another “flashpoint”, the sources said. The stand-off between India and China in Doklam and Beijing’s opposition to declaring Pakistan-based Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN had been major irritants in bilateral ties in the past.
Meanwhile, an Indian journalist was reported to have been detained in the Maldives for working there in violation of immigration rules. The external affairs ministry has sought to ascertain details of the detention. “We have received information that Indian national Money Sharma, working as a journalist, has been detained by the Maldivian authorities. We have asked our embassy to get in touch with the local authorities to ascertain more details of the case,” External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Maldivian police had claimed they had detained two foreign journalists, including an Indian, for violation of immigration laws.
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