By Peshan Gunaratne and J. Berkshire Miller
The country’s foreign policy has shifted significantly since the elections. Will that continue?
Sri Lanka’s geostrategic position has made it the target for diplomatic courting from a range of regional players, including China, India, and Japan. Under the tenure of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Colombo had catered especially to China and openly accepted Beijing’s development assistance in return for China’s development of major maritime ports. These plans and the friendly policy toward China have been altered since the election this past January of Maithripala Sirisena, ending the reign of the once powerful Rajapaksa.
The Sirisena administration has shown no hesitation in changing the pro-China policy of Rajapaksa while also looking to repair the damage done to Colombo’s ties with the United States, India, and the European Union. The temporary suspension of the Colombo Port City project was one of the initial moves of the new administration. In addition, other mega projects funded by Beijing were also halted and tenders were cancelled. For example, the Sirisena administration suspended the execution of the Northern Expressway until a proper investigation is conducted in determining whether the Rajapaksa administration had inflated the costs of the project. The South Asia Analysis Group, an Indian think-tank, had portrayed the Lotus Tower as a façade that may conceal China’s “assassin’s mace” weapons, given the involvement of China National Electronic Import and Export Corporation (CNEIEC) and the Chinese Aerospace Long-March International Trade (CALMIT).
Realizing that such moves may have adverse repercussions on the “strategic cooperative partnership” between the two countries, China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs made an official visit to Sri Lanka from February 5 to 7, 2015 as a special envoy of the Chinese government. Moreover, to accommodate Indian concerns over the growing strategic relationship between Colombo and Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping has talked up a trilateral partnership between China, India, and Sri Lanka. Despite this, relations between Colombo and Beijing were dealt another setback after the Sirisena administration recently declined to grant permission for Chinese vessels to dock in Sri Lanka. Given the growing rift between China and Sri Lanka, Beijing cemented its “all-weather friendship” with Pakistan by inking $46 billion in energy and infrastructure investment deals.
Read the full story at The Diplomat