Maldives signs free military assistance agreement with China amid withdrawal of Indian troops

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China signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives on Monday that will provide the island nation with free military assistance, PTI reported. The development comes nearly a month after the Maldives government had said that India had agreed to withdraw its military personnel from the island nation by May 10 and replace the aviation management staff with civilians. On February 26, the first Indian team of civilian technical personnel reached the Maldives to replace the Indian military personnel stationed there for operating aviation equipment. On Monday, defence minister of the Maldives Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon held bilateral talks on military...