Modi visits Sri Lanka to reassert India’s influence
Sirisena reassured of New Delhi’s vow to pump in funds
COLOMBO // India’s prime minister Narendra Modi travelled to Sri Lanka yesterday on a charm offensive as New Delhi seeks to reassert its influence on the island amid signs of a Chinese comeback.
Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena took power in January 2015 promising to loosen ties with China after a decade of hefty funding by Beijing under his predecessor.
When Mr Modi visited afterwards, he promised to “script a golden chapter in the history of India-Sri Lanka relations”.
Two years later, analysts say, Beijing’s influence is on the rise again as Colombo struggles to find alternative sources of foreign capital.
For India, which wants to keep Sri Lanka within its sphere of influence, that is a worrying sign.
“For Modi to visit again so soon is clearly an expression of India’s concerns about China’s deepening economic roots in Sri Lanka and the potential strategic, even military, advantages this might ultimately bring,” said Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group.
Mr Sirisena halted all Chinese-funded projects after his election victory denied a third term in office to Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had aggressively courted Beijing.
Now these projects, which included new highways, railway lines and a telecommunications tower, are back on track.
A US$1.4 billion (Dh5.14bn) Chinese- funded land reclamation project outside Colombo harbour has also been relaunched. New Delhi has long been nervous of a Chinese presence at the Colombo port, a key transit point for Indian cargo.
Even more controversially, Colombo is trying to sell a controlling interest in a strategically located deep-sea port in the south to China. The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, will next week travel to China, where he is expected to try to finalise that sale.
Experts say India does not have the resources to replace China as Sri Lanka’s main financial backer.
“The new government has understood this reality and they are wooing China while keeping India on board,” said Sri Lankan political analyst Kusal Perera.
The last time Mr Modi visited Sri Lanka, he made a symbolic trip to the war-ravaged north in a show of support for Sri Lanka’s mostly Hindu Tamil minority, who share close ties with the Tamils of south India.
This time, he will be guest of honour at a major Buddhist festival – a move seen as aimed at winning the support of the Sinhalese majority, many of whom are suspicious of India.
Mr Rajapaksa’s political allies among the Sinhalese community have called for a black flag protest during Mr Modi’s visit.