Beijing's freshwater diplomacy

Beijing [China], May 29: The modern diplomatic world has just added a new concept of diplomatic methods: freshwater diplomacy.
It can simply be understood here as using the supply of fresh water from one country to another country to achieve goals and benefits in bilateral relations. These two countries are China and the island nation of Maldives.
This asymmetric bilateral relationship is a focal point of power and influence politics in the Indian Ocean region , South Asia region and Indo-Pacific region due to its unique geostrategic location. Unique to the Maldives. Both China and India are trying to take advantage of and bind this archipelago into a bilateral relationship. Recently, in the Maldives there was a change of president and the situation became favorable for China and unfavorable for India. This is the context in which Beijing implements so-called freshwater diplomacy.
The fresh water that China supplies to the Maldives comes from China , but it is not just ordinary fresh water but thawed permafrost water of the Tibetan region, from the Himalayan mountains. The water is bottled and transported over long distances to the Maldives. New Delhi cannot help but be deeply concerned about this new form of diplomacy because once China's fresh water satisfies the Maldives' thirst, it will be very difficult for India to take advantage of the Maldives.
China did not randomly donate fresh water from Tibet to the Maldives. China's Tibet freshwater diplomacy also implies a message for India, clearly demonstrating Beijing's victory in the competition with New Delhi for influence over the Maldives. In the Himalayas, there are some areas of sovereignty dispute between China and India, and the use of fresh water resources here is also a matter of disagreement between the two sides.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper