Editorial: Colombo outreach

Sri Lanka is a friend who is in desperate need of help. And, like a true friend, India needs to reach out with large heartedness, putting the misunderstandings of the past firmly behind it. Colombo’s deepening embrace of China should not come in the way of efforts to win back the confidence of the island […]

Sri Lanka is a friend who is in desperate need of help. And, like a true friend, India needs to reach out with large heartedness, putting the misunderstandings of the past firmly behind it. Colombo’s deepening embrace of China should not come in the way of efforts to win back the confidence of the island nation and reset the bilateral ties that saw a downswing in the recent past. Facing an unprecedented economic turmoil, Sri Lanka is on the brink of a possible default, amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. A national food emergency has been declared to check soaring food prices and prevent hoarding of essentials at a time when tea and garment industries were hit by the pandemic. The economy has also been affected due to low receipts from tourism and remittances, the two main foreign exchange earners. Responding to an SOS from the neighbouring country, India has done well to promise an urgent package of assistance to help the island nation wriggle out of the balance of payment crisis. The measures, promised by India during the recent visit to New Delhi by Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, will cover areas including food and health security, energy security and a currency swap. The plan is to extend credit lines for Sri Lanka to import food, medicine, fuel and other essential items from India. The swift response from New Delhi came close on the heels of Beijing blacklisting the People’s Bank of Sri Lanka for withholding payment to a Chinese company for organic fertilizer which was found to be contaminated.

While China has threatened Sri Lanka over the fertilizer row and dragged it into international arbitration, India promptly dispatched a shipment of approved fertilizers. This is how New Delhi can gradually reclaim its ground in Sri Lanka. In return, Colombo needs to address India’s concerns over its investments in the country. Since his return to power two years ago, Mahinda Rajapaksa has shown a clear tilt towards China and paid scant attention to India’s strategic interests. Sri Lanka plays a pivotal role for India to control the strategic choke points in the Indian Ocean region. However, by pumping in huge investments into infrastructure and port development projects and forcing Colombo into an irreversible strategic embrace, China can have easy access to them. This will have huge security ramifications for India. Over the years, China has become the biggest investor in Sri Lanka, building expressways, ports, power projects, etc. This has created a debt trap problem for the country, which owes $1.3 billion to China. The growing debt problem of Sri Lanka would certainly impact India’s security interests because it would push Colombo deeper into the Chinese sphere of influence. India needs to do more to reclaim the lost ground.

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