Sri Lanka is a large ‘baingan’ in a massive ‘thali’. Its foreign policy is in the doldrums, and it basically involves switching sides from China to India seasonally. Foreign policy has become a sport for Sri Lanka. One year, it chooses China over India, treats New Delhi like a rival and even cancels projects which it committed to alongside India. The next year, Sri Lanka does what can be called a backflip, and begins cosying up to India. This behaviour has been going on for a long time now. However, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs in New Delhi, things have changed.
In an interesting development, a Chinese project to set up hybrid energy plants in three islands of Sri Lanka has been suspended. Making the announcement, the Chinese embassy said, “Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, being suspended to build Hybrid Energy system in 3 northern islands Flag of Sri Lanka due to ‘security concern’ from a third party”. Chinese firm Sino Soar Hybrid Technology was awarded the contract to come up with a hybrid renewable energy system in Nagadeepa, Delft and Analthivu islands off the coast of Jaffna in January.
Suspension of Project Comes After PM Modi’s Snub to Sri Lanka
The ‘security concern’ which the Chinese embassy made a reference to while announcing the suspension of the project in Sri Lanka has everything to do with India, as New Delhi has been raising concerns over the location of the project due to it being very close to Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, China made the announcement of the project being grounded, although Beijing has never in the past cared about India’s concerns with its projects in Sri Lanka or the larger Indian Ocean Region.
What this means is that Sri Lanka was the one to have pulled out from the project. And this comes in the backdrop of Colombo receiving a rather humiliating snub from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Tuesday, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa arrived in New Delhi and was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi and senior ministers to seek economic assistance for his country.
The economic crisis has deepened in Sri Lanka of late. The country owes more than $6 billion to China and has been expecting India to lend it a helping hand. The value of the Sri Lankan rupee has gone as high as 200 against 1 USD. By next year, Sri Lanka is also expecting a food crisis. Therefore, it needs urgent, non-exploitative economic help. But here’s the thing. China will not help Colombo without collateral. China is up to no charity. It will further coerce Sri Lanka by extending financial aid to the country at this hour, and Colombo is aware of the costs of Chinese help.
Therefore, it has turned to India. Since last year, the Sri Lankan government has made at least one request for a $1.1 billion currency swap. Sri Lanka has also been requesting India for a debt freeze, but India has not responded to either request. So, the primary objective of Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi was to ensure India extends a helping hand to Sri Lanka, and this is also why he was scheduled to meet PM Modi.
However, Rajapaksa was denied an audience with PM Modi, owing to what is being called ‘scheduling issues’. Instead, the Modi government arranged a meeting between India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Minister Basil, sending Sri Lanka a loud and clear message about India’s apprehensions vis-à-vis Sri Lanka’s dangerous tilt towards China. Doval is believed to have raised alarms due to Sri Lanka’s reckless foreign policy. Basil also met his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar during his two-day visit.
Sri Lanka was Taught a Lesson
Sri Lanka has been given a resounding message by India. It should either decouple from China or abandon all dreams of having good ties with India. Sri Lanka tapped a Chinese firm for a port project in Colombo after scrapping a deal for the port with India and Japan earlier this year. Sri Lanka had signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan and India in May 2019, under previous President Maithripala Sirisena, to jointly develop the Colombo terminal.
PM Modi, by not meeting Basil Rajapaksa, has made it clear that such rogue behaviour of Sri Lanka, and Colombo’s brazen prostration before China will no longer be tolerated. Therefore, to ease ties with India, Sri Lanka seems to have pulled the plug on the hybrid power project. For its own benefit, Sri Lanka will be advised to continue with this strategy if it wishes to enhance ties with India.