China’s role in Sri Lanka, which has grown remarkably in recent years, is poised to expand geographically as well. Hitherto, Beijing’s projects were confined to the southern parts of the island. It is now making inroads into the Northern Province and the rubber, tea, and coconut plantations of the central highlands.
More than 75 nations participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013 to develop trade and connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe with ports, roads and railways. But some countries worry about adding to already heavy debt burdens, and some projects have become an issue in local politics. Among the most vocal critics is Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who has warned about a new colonialism.
China and India’s new Great Game has reached the playing field of the original imperial power rivalry in the 19th century: Iran and Central Asia. Each of the rising giants wants to be the one to shape a new regional order. Their competition for influence continues to unfold in Indian Ocean countries like the Maldives and Sri Lanka. But they are also pressing farther west, up into the Arabian Sea, Iran and the Central Asian states.
Read Here – Nikkei Asian Review
Also Read: Rising Power Of India’s influence On China in Regional Politics
In a candid assessment, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said that China was “making headway” in infrastructure projects in South Asia and its “far greater” capacity to take up these undertakings are a “constant concern” for India. Gokhale’s remarks were made to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs at a hearing on February 16. These were reproduced in the latest report of the standing committee on the Ministry of External Affairs’ budget, which was tabled last week.
China makes no secret of its interest in the Indian Ocean, which contains vital sea lanes along which a large share of its imports and exports pass. It has not been shy about trying to curry favour with littoral and island states through its Belt and Road Initiative, a massive project to invest in infrastructure along ancient and modern trading routes.
After four years of democratic rollbacks, human rights abuses, and foreign policy adventurism, last week’s good news from the Maldives has been overtaken by a new and dangerous turn. Emergency has been imposed and former president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, now 80 years old, as well as the Maldivian Chief Justice, have been arrested.
Read Here – The Indian Express
Also read – India must stop intervening in Male
Almost nine years after the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka is still grappling with its recent past. Many challenges remain unresolved and many of the physical, emotional and psychological wounds of war remain unhealed.
On the first day of the New Year, the Chinese and Sri Lankan flags were hoisted to the same height over the Hambantota port in the Indian Ocean nation. It was the first time the Chinese flag had risen over the loss-making facility which Sri Lanka formally handed over to a Chinese state firm in a US$1.12 billion deal. The port deal is just one of a series of infrastructure forays China has made into Sri Lanka in a region usually regarded as India’s backyard.
Separated from the rest of Asia by the world’s biggest mountains, India is the elephant on its own subcontinent. Leaving aside perennially hostile Pakistan, it has effortlessly dominated smaller neighbours much in the way that America does in the Caribbean: they may grumble and resent their sometimes clumsy big brother, but they have learned to stay out of its way. Lately, however, China’s increasingly bold advances are challenging India’s sway.
India’s rise is taking place in the shadow of China’s even more dramatic rise. China’s assertive, and often aggressive, behaviour has been viewed as a huge challenge for India because it opens up the likelihood of China dominating India’s immediate neighbourhood. By focusing a great deal of energy in the neighbourhood, the Modi government is demonstrating that India has the capability to promote regional peace and economic integration.
