A small nation’s attempt at playing the bully

WHAT if your small neighbour thinks it can teach you a lesson? Normally, it is the big countries that tend to lord it over small ones. For instance, the US has been throwing its weight around in nearby or far-off places, such as Cuba, Panama, Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Yemen. China is a big-time bully in Asia, constantly using coercion and intimidation to push its unlawful claims and project its power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

China knows that bullying works. It has been successful in bringing many governments into submission. Several Western nations, after a show of resistance, have ultimately bowed to China. Even the mighty America bent eventually for deal-making, sending envoys to buy peace with China. As if bullying is not enough, Beijing has been resorting to humiliating countries that have defied it. Australia is the latest case in point. It has been punished for taking the lead in banning the use of Huawei’s 5G network equipment and calling for a probe into the origins of Covid-19. The list could be endless.

Likewise, Russia has been accused of using aggressive and heavy-handed tactics against its neighbours like Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova through its support for the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Crimea, Donetsk and Donbas’ Luhansk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had stirred a controversy in 2014 by belittling the existence of Kazakh statehood by stating that “Kazakhs never had any statehood” before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Since then, many Russian leaders have touted the idea that the territory of Kazakhstan was given as a ‘gift’ to the Kazakh people by the Russians and that it would be in their advantage to “remain in the greater Russian world”.

Surely, such statements couldn’t be dismissed as fringe sentiments. Putin’s remarks on Kazakhstan came just months after Russia annexed Crimea. Many countries wonder if they will be next.

In a most recent case, Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry had to summon the Russian Ambassador over a controversial remark made by nationalist politician Zakhar Prilepin, who called for Russia to ‘annex’ Uzbekistan, whose labour migrants come en masse to work in Russia. Of course, such statements coming from Russian chauvinists receive a furious response from former republics. At the same time, Prilepin’s statement has been applauded by other Russians who talk about the need to disavow the collapse of the Soviet Union.

China’s attempt at driving a wedge between India and its neighbours is well-known. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is a rabid Islamist whose ‘small-country politician’ mindset is being used by China, Pakistan and Turkey to rile India. They may have used Muizzu to corner India while they prefer to hide behind the scenes. It is necessary to view the move as a calculated component of their messaging.

Muizzu made the right noises during his recent visit to China. He signed several MoUs, including one on becoming China’s ‘security partner’ for four years from this year. China promised to build a commercial harbour and expand the airport in Male to boost tourism, besides integrating the Maldivian economy with China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative and the development of the blue economy.

The joint communiqué talked of a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”, with both sides agreeing to firmly support each other in safeguarding their respective core interests, upholding national sovereignty, independence and national dignity and firmly opposing external interference in the affairs of the Maldives.

These are things for India to get worried about, especially with regards to jointly developing the blue economy and Chinese ‘research vessels’ and spy ships prowling in the Indian Ocean, collecting sensitive data.

After his return from Beijing, Muizzu struck a defiant note, saying that his country may be small but that “doesn’t give them the licence to bully us”. The President asserted that the Maldives is not in anyone’s backyard and stressed that the Indian Ocean did not belong to a specific country. But his small-country syndrome is counterproductive when it comes to realism. The Chinese are no fools to sacrifice their market interests in India just for the sake of half-a-million Maldivian population. But Beijing is a master at using small countries as a means for psychologically bullying others. To let others attack is a mode of aggression — an assault by proxy applied by the Chinese in their non-contact warfare or information warfare strategy.

Cyberbullying, for example, is being increasingly used for verbal abuse or name-calling to defame leaders. Three junior Maldivian ministers were used to make derogatory remarks against the Indian leadership. This is a new method of warfare. Of course, the episode has hurt Indians, who expressed anger. The comments had triggered an instant outcry, with ‘#Boycott Maldives’ and ‘#Say No to Maldives’ trending on social media. Indians cancelled their trips to the island nation, while tour operators pledged not to hard-sell the Maldives. It goes to show how seemingly harmless acts can trigger disruption.

However, Muizzu’s anti-India campaign would prove detrimental to the Maldives sooner rather than later. His brinkmanship will create severe hardship for his people, who rely on imports of essential items from India. His actions are bound to lead the country into financial debt, political turmoil and civil strife. Muizzu may be dreaming of transforming the Maldives into Singapore, but he is forgetting that in 1988, it was India that helped the nation thwart a coup attempt by businessman Abdullah Luthufi and a few armed mercenaries.

The majority of the Maldivians do not wish to jeopardise their ties with India. They would rather worry about their future and not about Muizzu.

India hasn’t done anything coercive against its smaller neighbours. Nor does India have a desire to alienate a country. When heading the erstwhile USSR, Joseph Stalin once asked then Indian Ambassador: “What is the name of this tiny Indian island?” The envoy replied: “This is not an Indian island. It is Sri Lanka, an independent nation.” A puzzled Stalin asked: “Why?”

The Maldives’ unprovoked attack on India was a case of reverse bullying. New Delhi needs to make an example of the island nation.