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Showing posts with the label Srilanka

China and Sri Lanka: Between a Dream and a Nightmare ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Jeff M. Smith)

Image credits- VOA Source- The Diplomat Author- Jeff M. Smith The Sino-Sri Lankan relationship was fundamentally transformed by the 2005 election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Unlike many South Asian capitals India had shielded from Chinese influence, Colombo established cordial, if limited, diplomatic ties with Beijing by the late 20th century, even importing arms from China in the 1990s. Rajapaksa entered office two decades into a brutal conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), a hyper-violent separatist movement claiming to defend the interests of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. Colombo and the LTTE reached a ceasefire in 2002 but the violence continued and Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was assassinated shortly before Rajapaksa’s inauguration. Within weeks of taking office the president privately appealed to Delhi for military aid to underpin a major offensive he was planning to crush the LTTE. In 2006 Delhi quietly gifted Rajapaksa five Mi-17 hel

Sri Lanka’s Elections: Rajapaksa Tries a Comeback ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Sudha Ramachandran)

Mahendra Rajapakse ( Source- The Presidency of Sri Lanka) Source- The Diplomat Author- Sudha Ramachandran On August 17, Sri Lanka will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. While the electoral contest is primarily between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the United National Party (UNP)-led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), it is former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid to return to power as prime minister that has hogged the media spotlight. Seven months ago Rajapaksa lost his quest for a third successive term as president when his former health minister, Maithripala Sirisena defeated him in the presidential election. Rajapaksa’s ouster was widely described as the end of the Rajapaksa era in Sri Lankan politics. In fact, that era may not be quite finished yet – Rajapaksa is eyeing a comeback as prime minister. His reasons for doing so are not hard to fathom. Rajapaksa and his family benefited en

India’s Key to Sri Lanka: Maritime Infrastructure Development (Source- The Diplomat / Author- Nilanthi Samaranayake)

Image source- Flickr / Credits- Presidency of Sri Lanka Source- The Diplomat Author- Nilanthi Samaranayake Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to Sri Lanka highlights New Delhi’s reawakening to the strategic position that Sri Lanka holds in India’s neighborhood. Since 2008, India has watched as China built port facilities, highways, and other major infrastructure in Sri Lanka. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warships have also paid port visits to Sri Lanka, even taking in Trincomalee, where India has been sensitive to any extraregional presence for decades. Most recently, in September and October 2014, New Delhi became unsettled at the sight of a conventional Chinese submarine and a tender ship openly paying port visits in Colombo on the way to counter piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. Despite the public nature of the docking and advance notice, Indian policymakers appeared to be taken by surprise and feared India had lost strategic ground to China re

Narendra Modi’s Active Indian Ocean Diplomacy ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- S.K Chatterji)

Image credits- MEA Official Gallery Source- The Diplomat Author- S.K Chatterji The power equations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) have implications not only for the littoral states but for the entire Asia-Pacific region. Through the Indian Ocean run some of the busiest sea lanes globally, as oil and natural resources traverse from west to east to feed the burgeoning needs of the world’s second largest economy, China, and the country it dislodged from that slot, Japan. By virtue of its size, geographic location, and economic and military potential India is expected to play a leading role in keeping the sea lanes of communication through the Indian Ocean safe for international trade and commerce. The growing might of the Chinese Navy and its outreach to IOR nations is a concern, one not entirely limited to India. China’s aggressive posture in the South China Sea is shaping regional apprehensions. Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines,

NEW NEIGHBOURLINESS IN INDIA-SRI LANKA TIES – ANALYSIS ( SOURCE- EURASIA REVIEW / AUTHOR- P.S SURYANARAYA)

Source- Flickr (Image credits- The Presidency of Sri Lanka) Source- Eurasia Review Author- P.S Suryanarayana Neighbourhood diplomacy can be tricky even at the best of times, because any two neighbours will have common but differing expectations of a good bilateral relationship. Viewed in this light, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest visit to Sri Lanka has gone off well, without setting the Palk Strait on fire. This sums up the outcome, in a positive turn of the Thames-metaphor for the narrow waterway that bridges (or segregates) the two countries. To be sure, no diplomatic breakthroughs were announced during the two-day visit hat concluded on 14 March 2015. By all accounts, however, the diplomatic mood and political atmospherics toned up the quotient of Indo-Sri Lankan neighbourliness. Apart from holding talks with Sri Lanka’s relatively new executive President, Maithripala Sirisena, Modi met a number of leaders, including those out of office, across the p

India's Neighborhood Is Changing -- How Should New Delhi Respond? ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Rohan Joshi)

Source- The Diplomat Author- Rohan Joshi India’s neighborhood is in the midst of significant change. In Sri Lanka, an unlikely coalition with former Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa in the country’s presidential election in January.  In the Maldives, former president Mohamed Nasheed, having been systematically harassed since a de facto coup in 2012, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and found guilty of terrorism.  Afghanistan’s future looks precarious as a unity government led by President Ashraf Ghani attempts to make peace with the Afghan Taliban. Islamist forces in Bangladesh continue to challenge the secular fabric of the state, resulting in upswing in attacks against Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Those who champion the cause of freedom and tolerance are being silenced, the heinous murder of blogger Avijit Roy earlier this month being but the most recent example. These transformative events coincide with India having wit

CHINA’S CHALLENGES AFTER REGIME CHANGE IN SRI LANKA – ANALYSIS ( Source- The Eurasia review/ Author- Col R.Hariharan)

Image credits- Indian PMO Source- The Eurasia Review Author- By Col R.Hariharan China’s ambition to further its interests in Sri Lanka has suffered a setback after people elected the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena as President in preference to two-term President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the election held in January 2015. China is probably familiar with President Sirisena as he had served as a senior minister and close aide of Rajapaksa during the last ten years. He was high in the hierarchy and served as the defence minister when President Rajapaksa was absent from the country during the Eelam War. However, China’s personal equation with Rajapaksa was tailored to cultivate him, taking advantage of his highly personalised style of governance. Rajapaksa and his two brothers controlled the government and managed key ministries e.g., development finance, internal security, defence and urban development immensely benefiting China in furthering its strateg