After seeking more tourists from China to outnumber Indian arrivals in the Maldives earlier this week, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Saturday indicated that choppers gifted by India will not be used to ferry patients from various islands of the archipelago from March and that Male is exploring Europe for drug imports to reduce dependency on India for pharma products.

Muizzu made these announcements without naming India in his remarks to the media at the Velana International Airport on his return from a five-day state visit to China, signing off in English with: “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us.”

A digital news platform, Atoll Times, reported: “The President’s remarks, even though he did not mention India by name, was to address the several threats being made against Maldivians and the country itself, after the social dispute that arose recently” over island tourism that saw Lakshadweep being pitted against the Maldives following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Indian islands in the first week of January.

The social media spat worsened with three Maldivian ministers making derogatory remarks against Modi for which they were suspended. However, the “boycott Maldives” call continued apace, resulting in Muizzu saying in China that Beijing ought to regain its position of accounting for the largest number of tourist arrivals in the Maldives.

In his remarks at the airport, Muizzu, according to Sun Online, also said: “Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 900,000 square kilometers. This ocean does not belong to a specific country. This ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it.”

According to Sun Online, the President appeared to be responding to the oft-repeated remark that the Maldives is situated in India’s backyard when he said: “We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state.”

On pharma imports, Muizzu said his government had begun the process of importing medicines directly from Europe. “By ending [the import of] generic drugs and directly buying from the manufacturer, from Europe and the US, we will hopefully shift drug imports. That has already begun. Hopefully, our country will soon import from genuine European drug manufacturers and the US. So, importing medicines from one specific country will hopefully come to an end... We will hopefully stand on our own feet and end dependence on a particular group of people,’’ Atoll Times quoted Muizzu as saying.

On air ambulances — for which the Maldives currently uses Dornier helicopters gifted by India — Muizzu, according to Atoll Times, said: “An air ambulance will hopefully start flying on March 1 to carry patients in medical emergencies. Not a [Indian] helicopter, not a Dornier. Our [Maldivian] Dash 8 aircraft is already being prepared for it.”

From the day he assumed office in November, Muizzu has repeatedly asked India to withdraw troops deployed in the Maldives to operate and service the two helicopters and Dornier aircraft gifted to Male by the Manmohan Singh and Modi governments.