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A Joint Observation Station that China is looking to build in the Maldives can prove to be another security threat for India as Maldives opposition is claiming that the observatory will have a military application including a provision for a submarine base as well, Sachin Parashar wrote in The Times of India on 26 February.
TOI cited officials in India as confirming an official agreement of the same among China and Maldives called the Protocol on Establishment of Joint Ocean Observation Station and has been signed around the time both countries signed a free trade agreement last year. However, specifics of the agreement have to be checked before they could get any comment on the same.
However, the Times of India report called this observatory similar to the one China announced for the South China Sea last year which was made with the objective of signifying Chinese control of the SCS waters.
(With inputs from the Times of India)
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