Trouble in paradise over new land law

The Government claims the move would not threaten the Maldives' sovereignty and is needed to attract large-scale foreign investment. Photo / Thinkstock

For the oligarch who has everything, it is a tantalising news. The Maldives Government has passed a law which will, for the first time, allow foreigners to purchase land, meaning the tropical islands with their white sands could be snapped up by anyone with a spare US$1 billion ($1.52 billion).

But the detail of the new law has a sting in its tail. Not only must potential investors be prepared to spend at least US$1 billion to own land on one of the 1200 islands in perpetuity, they must also commit to 70 per cent of that land being reclaimed from the Indian Ocean.

The conditions have raised concern that the bill is designed to clear the way for the Chinese to set up bases in the Maldives, which straddles vital international east-west shipping routes. China has expertise in reclamation technology and can easily make investments of that size.

India, which considers itself the regional superpower, is already wary of increased Chinese involvement in the area.

Eva Abdulla, an MP with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, said she feared the nation could become a front line for a potential power struggle between India and China.

"What is in our interest is peace and stability in the Indian Ocean. India is our neighbour and we are not a country in the South China Sea," she said.

Ahead of the vote, President Abdulla Yameen's half brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the country's former leader, who ruled for three decades until 2008, had urged further debate on the move.

Anand Kumar, a strategic affairs analyst at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, agreed that the law could be designed to help China gain a foothold in the region.

"They have been creating islands in the South China Sea, and they will try to replicate the same exercise in the Indian Ocean," he said.

"They tried to do the same thing with Sri Lanka. It appears that since they have lost political influence in Sri Lanka, they are trying to regain the same ground in the Maldives."

The Government claims the move would not threaten the Maldives' sovereignty and is needed to attract large-scale foreign investment.

However, it is just the latest in a string of controversial decisions taken by Yameen since he came to power in 2013.

He was declared President after a run-off vote, which had been delayed on the orders of the Supreme Court following a first-round election led by the opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed.