A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, May 16, 2017
China driving India–Sri Lanka ties
Despite Chinese dominance in Sri Lanka, India has managed to make its own mark, realising that Sri Lanka needs to be treated as an equal partner.
( May 15, 2017, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri
Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent visit to India
signified a new high in India–Sri Lanka relations. This was his third
visit since his government came to power in 2015 and it laid the
foundation for long-term collaboration in the areas of energy,
infrastructure and special economic zones. After
2500 years of strong cultural, linguistic and religious ties between
the two countries, the partnership is entering a new era that has to
contend with China’s presence in Sri Lanka.
The free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Sri Lanka, signed in
2000, has improved relations and increased trade. Bilateral trade
amounted to US$4.7 billion in 2015. Sri Lanka also happens to be India’s
largest trading partner in the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation and India is Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner globally.
In comparison, bilateral trade between China and Sri Lanka stood at US$4
billion in the same time frame, but with a higher rate of growth. A Sri
Lanka–China FTA is also on the anvil. While India is one of the top
four investors in Sri Lanka, with cumulative investments of over US$1
billion since 2003, China is the largest investor by far with nearly
US$15 billion in funding and investment in 2016 alone. Most of the
government and private investment by China is in major infrastructure
projects — especially ports and airports. China’s interest in Sri Lanka
is largely attributable to its strategic location on the route of
China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Given the growing dominance of China in South Asia and China’s close
connections with Sri Lanka, in recent years the relationship between
India and Sri Lanka has centred around economic cooperation and security
concerns with less emphasis on political matters. For example,
protecting the Tamil populations from the excesses of the army after the
collapse of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was an
important concern for the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But
important political issues have been overshadowed by the ‘China factor’ —
the major reason for stress between the two countries.
China has pumped millions of dollars into Sri Lanka’s infrastructure since
the end of its 26-year long civil war in 2009. China’s ‘string of
pearls’ strategy is an attempt to expand its influence in South Asia,
which is closely watched and monitored by India. China’s flagship
projects in Sri Lanka are the Hambantota Port Development and the
Colombo Port Project, both located at strategic points in global sea
trade. Large projects like these make it easier for Beijing to draw Sri
Lanka into its 21st Century Maritime Silk Road project — part of the
Belt and Road Initiative.
In the last couple of years India has focused on countering the growing
presence of China in Sri Lanka by developing infrastructure. According to the government of India,
Sri Lanka has been one of the major beneficiaries of India’s
development credit, to the tune of US$2.6 billion including US$436
million in grants.
The Indian government has also extended a line of credit of US$167.4
million through the Export-Import Bank of India for the repair and
upgrade of the Colombo Matara rail link, which was damaged in the 2004
Boxing Day Tsunami. India has also been supporting a large number of
small development projects in education and health through its grant
funding.
There are also talks of upgrading the India–Sri Lanka FTA to include a
new trade pact called the Economic and Technological Cooperation
Agreement (ETCA), which is expected to be signed by the end of 2017. The
ETCA is proposed to enhance trade in services, investments and
technology cooperation with India’s five fastest growing southern states
— Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Given
these states’ proximity with Sri Lanka, the ECTA would leverage Sri
Lanka’s unique geo-strategic location, which is at the crossroads of
major shipping routes. The ECTA would also increase regional integration
and could make Sri Lanka the geo-economic centre of South Asia.
So far, the Sri Lankan government has been able to strike a balance in
its relations with both India and China. Sri Lanka’s financial
engagement with China is deep and covers a vast gamut of activities — it
depends on China for its developmental needs. Yet given the high level
of regular interactions and ministerial-level meetings between Sri Lanka
and India, their relations have stabilised too and are at an all-time
high.
Despite Chinese dominance in Sri Lanka, India has managed to make its
own mark, realising that Sri Lanka needs to be treated as an equal
partner. The renewed trust factor and the recent visit of Prime Minister
Wickremesinghe has laid the foundation for a new era of friendship and
cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.
Geethanjali
Nataraj is Professor of Applied Economics and Economic Policy at the
Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi. This
article first published on Esat Asia Forum