Sri Lanka-China Political and Economic Ties Strengthen (Part 1)

On Monday, after winning the weekend election, Sri Lanka's former defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as the country's new president. Since the world perceives Rajapaksa as "pro-China," his inauguration is considered the start of Sri Lanka's tilt towards the world's second-largest economy.

The shared relationship between China and Sri Lanka dates back to the Northern and Southern Empires (386-589). Faxian, a Chinese Buddhist monk who, after his foreign trip, took a large number of Buddhist books back to China, lived in Sri Lanka for a long time, and became a key figure in Sri Lankan Buddhism's history. Zheng landed many times in Sri Lanka in the legendary Chinese navigator Zheng He's journey during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Sri Lanka also sent officials to China at that time.

Before China and Sri Lanka established diplomatic ties in 1952, the two countries inked the Rubber-Rice Pact agreement. At the time, China was facing a foreign-exchange crisis under sanctions from the West and Sri Lanka. China agreed to supply rice for Sri Lankan rubber mid-signing of the agreement.

In both countries, the deal resolved the urgency and showed both as reliable partners.

The relations between China and Sri Lanka have gone through some twists and turns, putting some big cooperation projects on hold. The former has been so since Maithripala Sirisena, former President of Sri Lanka, took office on January 9, 2015.

There are three main reasons for this. First, opposition stems from electoral politics' nature. Second, the international community's pressure and temptation gave Sirisena the impression that he could use relations with China to trade more help from other countries. Third, given the contradictions within the nation between different interest groups, only change can lead to new government winning opportunities. Sri Lanka, however, eventually failed to get more help from other countries.

Yes, ties between China and Sri Lanka are deeply rooted in the island country's public opinion. In Sri Lanka, China has built quite a few major infrastructure projects, including Hambantota Port, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Colombo Expressway, Norochcholai Power Plant, and Colombo International Financial City.

Changes in government can not undo these accomplishments. As Rajapaksa has begun his term in office, China and Sri Lanka will have more opportunities to develop relationships. Rajapaksa's counselor, Palitha Kohona, said in September, "If Gotabaya Rajapaksa becomes the president... he will set the record straight" and restore the association to where it was with China.

However, not everyone is pleased to see closer ties develop between China and Sri Lanka.

Some are concerned that the island country would rely heavily on China economically, politically, and militarily, thereby boosting the influence of China on Sri Lanka, affecting the power structure around the Indian Ocean.

If the goal of a country is to achieve a strategic monopoly in South Asia and the North Indian Ocean, it can be considered a threat to the rapid development of cooperation of any other nation with major powers outside the region.

But if the primary goal of a country is regional peace and prosperity, Chinese investment and cooperation with countries in the region would be welcomed. Rajapaksa is believed to be writing his foreign policy based on his interpretation of the interests of Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa is not "pro-China" nor pro-Sri Lanka.

VBS/AT/26122019/Z_TB3

 To be continued ...