Xi Jinping with Abdulla Yameen | File image | Photo Credit: AP

New Delhi: Maldives has quietly and hastily inked a free trade deal with China and this has caught the Indian government off guard.

China says Doklam is its territory, hints at sizable troops' presence in region

The Maldivian government got the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China approved by its Parliament Thursday night in a vote seen as conducted in haste and without taking the country's opposition into confidence. At the time the FTA was cleared, only 30 out of the total 85 members were present and the session lasted just around 30 minutes.

Experts are viewing the development as an attempt by President Abdulla Yameen to give signals to China ahead of his visit to the country later this month.

In September 2014, Xi Jinping became the first Chinese president to visit Maldives.

Maldives cosying up to China comes in the backdrop of India apparently putting Maldives on the backburner in its scheme of things.

In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to visit Maldives since taking over in May 2014. He has travelled to all other countries in the neighbourhood.

It may, however, be noted that a trip was scheduled in March 2015 but was cancelled due to the existing turbulent political situation at that time.

It may also be noted that Maldives and India do not have any deal on free trade. In fact, the FTA with China is Maldives' first with any country.

Sources in the government said they are looking into the development and examining its possible ramifications.

While Maldives' Abdulla Yameen has reiterated its India First policy formulation, it appears to have ignored India's security-related concerns.

"We are also deeply concerned that further entrenchment of the country into a Chinese debt trap will result in additional stress on strategic national assets and increasing instability in Indian Ocean region," the main opposition party, MDP, said in a statement.

According to MDP, the country owes almost 70% of its debt to China.

"The committee vetting the agreement took less than 10 minutes. The committee was conducted against parliamentary procedures... with deliberations closed off for the public and to the media... MPs were not given access to the document... The government allowed for less than 1 hour for the parliamentary process to approve the 1000 page document," the MDP said further in its statement.