NEW DELHI, DEC 01 (DNA) – The haste with which the government, led by President Abdulla Yameen, decided to pass the pact the session took barely half an hour is being perceived here as Male trying to cosy up to China.

In a sudden move that has sent alarm bells ringing in New Delhi, Maldives rammed through its Free Trade Agreement with China in the Maldivian parliament last night in a session attended by only 30 out of 85 members.

The haste with which the government, led by President Abdulla Yameen, decided to pass the pact — the session took barely half an hour — is being perceived here as Male trying to cosy up to China.

This comes in the backdrop of Yameen planning to visit Beijing in December. This will be a reciprocal visit after the first-ever visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping to Maldives in September 2014.

Maldives is the only country in the neighbourhood which has not been visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last three-and-half years after he cancelled a proposed trip in March 2015 due to the turbulent political situation. Maldives and India do not have a Free Trade Agreement.

South Block sources told on Thursday that the Indian High Commission in Male has sent a report on the development which caught many in Delhi by surprise. This is Maldives’s first FTA with any country, and China’s second FTA with any country in South Asia — after Pakistan.

While there was no official response to the development, a source said: “We are examining the issue…and the ramifications of the FTA on our trade with Maldives.”