If we put the history of China and India’s strategic rivalry in the Indian Ocean region and the race for geopolitical influence in Sri Lanka in context, it is easy to understand which country the Chinese foreign minister referred to as the ‘third party’. Mahinda Rajapaksa was the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015. In his second term, China spread its feet in Sri Lanka. This increased the tension of India but Rajapaksa did not prove to be a good neighbor.
Sri Lankan PM Resigns: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns, protesters demand – President should also quit
Hambantota port sacrificed for Chinese debt
Sri Lanka not only ignored India’s security interests but also gave China a free hand to develop strategic bases on a large scale. China’s debt-trap diplomacy in Sri Lanka proved successful, for example the Hambantota port, which Rajapaksa had to give to China on a 99-year lease due to non-payment of debt. This port is located very close to India. In 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the President of Sri Lanka and Mahinda Rajapaksa sat in the Prime Minister’s chair, after which he openly started working on the instructions of China.
Rajapakse government kicks India out of ECT project
The Rajapaksa government pulled India out of the East Container Terminal (ECT) project to be built at Colombo Port. It was said that the government took this decision after strong protests by trade unions across the country. In the year 2019, the Government of Sri Lanka signed an agreement with India and Japan to build a container terminal at this port. This project of India was being seen as a cut of China’s presence at Hambantota Port.
protests in sri lanka
China can make colony in Sri Lanka
Not only this, the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill was passed in the Sri Lankan Parliament which allegedly allowed China to establish a colony in Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa’s decisions regarding China continued to undermine the sovereignty of the country. India is concerned about CHEC Port City Colombo which may gradually become a colony of China. It is situated at a distance of just 300 km from the southern end of India.
Sri Lanka is paying the price of friendship with China
China increasing influence in Tamil majority provinces
To increase its geopolitical influence, China is also expanding its hegemony in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka where Tamils form a majority. Chinese state companies have started work on their infrastructure projects. Rajapaksa called India a relative and China a friend and India has played its role well in difficulties like the Corona epidemic, oil shortage and economic crisis.
Curfew imposed across Sri Lanka
What will change for the people by resigning?
On the victory of Mahinda Rajapaksa, foreign affairs expert Dr Rahis Singh had said that there will be no change in the policies of the old pro-China Rajapaksa in the coming times. Today not only his words have proved to be true, but its results are also in front of the world. The whole picture can be easily understood in such a way that China threw its debt trap towards Sri Lanka and Rajapaksa went ahead and not just ‘trapped’ but ‘engaged’ in it.
This ‘conspiratorial friendship’ has created tension for India and Western countries. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has been accused of corruption and brutally suppressed Tamil rebels, has submitted his resignation to his brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka, locked in emergency tonight, will sleep without any prime minister, but the big question is, what change will the next morning bring in the lives of common people?
