Maldives President-elect Mohamed Muizzu has said that his country will work to return Indian military personnel from its shores ‘as soon as possible’. Muizzu, who won the Maldives presidential election last month insisted that it was the top foreign policy priority for the country to return Indian military personel.

Muizzu defeated incumbent president Ibrahim Solih in a second-round runoff and will assume office on November 17. The return of the Indian military was a core policy of his election campaign, as reported by news agency Reuters.

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"I will be holding frank and detailed diplomatic consultations with India to work out details of sending back military personnel from the Maldives as soon as possible," he told Reuters in an interview.

"The focus is not on the actual number of military personnel here, it is on not having any at all in the Maldives. We will discuss with the Indian government and find out a way forward for this,” he further said.

Earlier, Muizzu said that he would keep his election promise to remove Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives. “The people have told us that they don't want foreign military here,” he said. 

He emphasised that Maldives has already started negotiations with India to remove its military presence. He also clarified that his call for India to remove its military personnel would not mean "that I'm going to allow China or any other country to bring their military troops here."

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Mohamed Muizzu is widely seen as pro-Chinese. Following Muizzu’s victory in the presidential polls, China's foreign ministry said that the country "respects the choice of the Maldivian people and congratulates President-elect Mohamed Muizzu".

"China is willing to work with the Maldives to consolidate the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and push for continuous new progress," the ministry said.

(With Inputs From Reuters)