China says military delegation visited Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal

Beijing strengthens military ties with Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal to counter India's influence in South Asia.

A Chinese military delegation recently visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal to discuss further cooperation in defence issues, Beijing said on Wednesday.

Beijing is seeking to build closer ties in South Asia in a push to counter its strategic rival India for influence.

Last week, the Maldives said it had signed a "military assistance" deal with China after ordering Indian troops deployed in the small but strategically-placed archipelago to leave.

And Beijing confirmed on Wednesday that a delegation had visited the country and met with pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu during a trip that also took them to Sri Lanka and Nepal from March 4 to 13.

In all three countries, "they exchanged views on military relations and regional security issues of common concern", the Chinese military said in a statement on its official WeChat account.

The delegation of officials from the military's international military cooperation department focused on "in-depth consultations on promoting bilateral defence cooperation".

"A series of consensus was reached to further enriched defence cooperation between the PLA and the relevant countries," it added, referring to the Chinese military by its official acronym.