Maldives government +NEW DELHI: Setting off fresh concerns over China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean , thehas signed a Free Trade Agreement ( FTA ) with Beijing without taking the country's opposition, or even the people, into confidence.According to the Maldives opposition, the archipelago already owes almost 70% of its debt to China. While the negotiations had been completed in September, Yameen signed the document on Wednesday.The agreement was apparently sent to the parliamentary oversight committee on national security affairs within 3 minutes of submission to the floor. "The committee vetting the agreement took less than 10 minutes. The committee was conducted against parliamentary procedures... with deliberations closed off for the public and to the media... MPs were not given access to the document... The government allowed for less than 1 hour for the parliamentary process to approve the 1000+ page document," said the statement.

Source: Times of India November 30, 2017 22:52 UTC