Through the looking glass

"Maldives election: Opposition defeats China-backed Abdulla Yameen", announced the BBC. "Opposition victory in Maldives deals potential blow to China", declared Reuters. The Guardian said, "Maldives voters throw out China-backed strongman president".

Going purely by international headlines, one could be forgiven for thinking that the recently concluded presidential election in the Maldives was more about China than the Southasian archipelago. International interest in the hotly contested election has, for some time, been acutely focused on China's growing influence in the Indian Ocean, with the breakdown of the Maldives' democracy over the years serving as a helpful backdrop for what was really at stake: India's, and the West's, ever-shrinking sphere of influence in the region.