Weeks after Sri Lanka passed special legislation for its China-backed $1.4 billion Colombo port city project, India said it expected Colombo to remain “mindful” of their “bilateral cooperation”, including in “maritime domain”, and also added that they were monitoring development from the “security perspective.”  

Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, made the remark on Thursday evening during the weekly media briefing of the ministry, as concerns grew about Beijing’s rapidly growing influence in Sri Lanka. 

“We expect Sri Lanka will remain mindful of our excellent bilateral cooperation, including for mutual security in our shared environment, which includes the maritime domain,” he said in a carefully worded statement, adding that India was following recent development from its “security perspective.”

Sri Lanka’s growing proximity with China has always been viewed with concern India given its wariness about Beijing's intentions and ambitions in the region. 

Commenting on the recently passed controversial port city bill, Bagchi said, “We have also noted the concerns that have been raised in Sri Lanka regarding several aspects of the framework for the Colombo port city project.”

On 20 May, the Sri Lanka parliament passed a controversial bill, The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, despite fierce resistance from opposition parties. The bill granted extensive and wide-ranging power to the commission for governing the Port City area.

Opposition leaders alleged the new laws would turn the port city into a “Chinese colony”, and compromised the country’s sovereignty. On the other hand, the government defended the bill, saying it would make way for the faster implementation of foreign direct investment proposals. 

When asked about the implementation of India’s development projects in the island nation, India said they were in “regular touch with Sri Lankan authorities” regarding the projects. 

Concerns have also been growing in India as Sri Lanka, in the past few months, had allotted sensitive energy projects in three of its islands which are in close proximity to India’s southern border.   

Over the last two years, Colombo has taken several decisions--from scrapping the East Colombo Terminal port deal with India to awarding sensitive and major infrastructural projects to China -  marking a significant shift in its foreign policy. 

But, in the last five months, it would seem that the Sri Lankan government has even dropped the pretext of acknowledging India’s security concerns vis-a-vis its relations with China