Report
Are Sri Lanka’s Relations with China Deepening? An Analysis of Economic, Military, and Diplomatic Data
Abstract: During the past few years, Sri Lanka appears to have forged closer relations with China. Sri Lanka welcomed Chinese investment in building a port in Hambantota, arms from China for use in its civil war, and “dialogue partner” status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Such high-profile moves have unnerved analysts fearing the rise of Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean region. A first-time, systematic analysis of the trends in Sri Lanka’s economic, military, and diplomatic relations with China reveals that ties have indeed been strengthening. However, Sri Lanka is neither bandwagoning with nor balancing China, as structural realism predicts. More attention should be devoted to explaining the security thinking of small states that are not following such predictions in response to the emergence of a regional hegemon.
Construction at the multi million dollar Chinese funded Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka
Nilanthi Samaranayake is an analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) in the Washington, DC, In an article published in Asian Security, (vol. 7, no. 2, 2011, pp. 119–146) she undertakes a first-time, systematic analysis of the trends in Sri Lanka’s economic, military, and diplomatic relations with China. By compiling publicly available, time-series data from various sources, she seeks to informs one dimension of a broader, mostly speculative discussion among policymakers about the rise of China in the IOR. The value of her article she says is largely empirical and differs from most analyses of China’s growing relations with IOR nations because it primarily focuses on the vantage point of Sri Lanka’s national interests.
Please read the entire analysis by Samaranayake here: Are Sri Lanka’s Relations with China Deepening? An Analysis of Economic, Military, and Diplomatic Data
1 Comment to “Are Sri Lanka’s Relations with China Deepening? An Analysis of Economic, Military, and Diplomatic Data”
August 5, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Feeling a bit worried, eh, samaranayake? China, Russia and India are #1, 2, and 3. So no need to fret on your part. Go get some sleep instead of writing this kind of crap.