The recently-concluded elections in Sri Lanka was widely covered in the Chinese media, an indication of the strategic interest of Beijing in the island nation and the Indian Ocean Region
Policy instability during the 2015-2024 likely pushed back Sri Lanka’s path towards becoming South Asia’s first High-Income Country. The 2022 financial crisis would never have happened as stable growth during the first half of 2015–2024 would have built enough buffer to weather impact of the Covid pandemic
China’s Belt and Road Initiative - which funded Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port through loans resulting in a 99-year lease to Chinese State-owned enterprise in 2017 due to Colombo’s struggle to service said loans - follows the same expansionary script.
If one location matters most to India in Sri Lanka, it is Trincomalee. With one of the finest natural harbours in the world, Trincomalee has immense commercial, naval, and energy value. For decades, strategists in New Delhi have viewed it as critical to the security architecture of the Bay of Bengal.
It also demonstrated that the EU increasingly sees India as a strategic alternative to excessive dependence on China and India increasingly sees the EU as an important technology and investment partner amid a more fragmented global trading system.
The recently-concluded elections in Sri Lanka was widely covered in the Chinese media, an indication of the strategic interest of Beijing in the island nation and the Indian Ocean Region