How does one explain the foreign policy behavior of South Asia’s small states? The conventional scholarship drawing from structural realism argues that the presence of China allows them to balance India, leading to a deterioration of their ties with India. This paper argues that the realist explanation overdetermines the role of China in explaining foreign policy change. Taking a case of India-Maldives relations, this paper argues that the changes in Maldives’ foreign policy are rooted in contested ideas about Maldivian state identity. It argues that the foreign policy choices of successive Maldivian governments in the post-2008 period are rooted in the contested meanings of sovereignty and state-building processes. Second, focusing on how Maldivian political elites construct preferences, this paper moves away from the Indo-centric explanation of South Asian international politics by showing contrary to realist predispositions, small states exercise agency in actively fashioning their choices in the complex geopolitical environment.