India not capable of providing large investment and loans to SL?
Posted on August 24th, 2015
Courtesy Adaderana
August 24, 2015 11:40 pm
As the new Sri Lankan government seeks to reverse the pro-China policy pursued by Rajapaksa, an article by a state- run thinktank said the former president turned pro-China only after he was pressured by India and the West over alleged human rights violations following the war with the LTTE.
Rajapaksa, 69, was defeated politically for the second time by an alliance led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who was backed by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Rajapaks’a defeat in the August 17 polls has cemented the hold of Sirisena over the government and the opposition United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its main constituent, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), analysts say.
Sirisena’s wish to get investment and assistance from India is unrealistic. India itself needs enormous funds to improve its own basic infrastructure. Despite (Prime Minister) Modi’s ambition, the Indian government is not capable of providing large investment and loans,” the article in Global Times said.
It said: Besides, Indian enterprises, especially in the construction and infrastructure sectors, cannot compete with Chinese ones in either funds or technology and can hardly replace the Chinese ones in Sri Lanka.”
It is not that Rajapaksa didn’t want close ties with India. But when Rajapaksa asked for funding and contracts from India when the country built the Hambantota Port, India declined to help and Rajapaksa had no choice but to turn to China.”
The article said that India is willing to see Sirisena reduce his dependency on China with an omni-directional diplomacy, but India doesn’t like it unless Sri Lanka puts India first.”
It said despite rivalry with Japan, China is willing to see” more Japanese investments in Sri Lanka as the two have common interests in safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean.”
China is willing to see Japan provide assistance to Sri Lanka. At the same time, India is not against Japan’s presence in the Indian Ocean,” it said.
The growing importance of the Indian Ocean has made Sri Lanka of greater interest to big powers, which will bring huge development opportunities for the country. Sirisena should retain a good relationship with China, and meanwhile warm up ties with the West, India and Japan.
He should inject new impetus to the country’s development rather than striking a poor balance with these partners at the cost of relations with China,” it said.
The Chinese media has earlier blamed western and Indian media for projecting Rajapaksa’s pro-China. Sri Lanka had secured a USD 5 billion loan for strategic projects from China during Rajapaksa’s tenure, expanding Beijing’s influence in India’s backyard. (PTI)
August 24th, 2015 at 10:05 pm
Of course India is incapable of large investments, loans and donations Sri Lanka received from China. Most people who classify India and China in the same way don’t realise China’s economy is over 5 times that of India and cash reserves wise the two are not comparable. China is also a global leader in infrastructure projects but India is not even in own country.
Japan has restarted (triggered by China’s AIIB Bank) to dish out generous assistance to Asian countries. However, losing China is economically disastrous for Lanka.
The bigger issue with this is the huge policy disparity between UNP (liberal and capitalist) and President Sirisena (socialist and centre-left). It is this clash that will cost the country very badly. Although Sirisena wants to balance relations between China and the west (and India), UNP has other plans. These disputes will ruin policy consistency and political stability which are vital for good economic performance.
Another factor not to be missed is indirect cost of losing China. If India and the west can destabilise Lanka for being “pro-China” in their definition, China, Russia, Pakistan and certain middle eastern actors too can destabilise Lanka for being “pro-Indian” (in their definition).
August 25th, 2015 at 12:52 pm
Of course. I would have thought it is obvious. MR offered the Hambantota port and other infrastructure development projects to India first. They could not do it. He then went to China.
If any one visits India, poor people early morning line up on pavements of the major roads and defecate openly. They also urinate openly. India does very little for its people. The gap between the very rich and very poor is huge in India. They encourage all the poor to leave India and go to other countries. Please see article.
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/08/03/slow-strangulation-of-sri-lanka-and-the-sinhalese/
India has always acted in ways inimical to Sri Lanka. They have also been doing it to all the smaller neighboring countries. It was they who trained the LTTE. It was they who then sent the IPKF to Sri Lanka. They then forced the useless 13A we are saddled with which no politician has had the courage to remove. During the war with LTTE they gave us Radar which was found to be dud. They did not support Sri Lanka at the UN on the issue of war crimes.There is a long list of acts of hostility they have done against Sri Lanka. We should really align with China who has always been a true friend to us and distance ourselves from India. The only thing of value we got from India is Buddhism.
However in defense of India we have to realize that India was also Colonized by British same as Sri Lanka. They divided India in to India and Pakistan and set them up to fight with each other for the rest of their lives. As a result both countries are dirt poor and spend money to buy arms to fight each other. The same will happen in Sri Lanka if the West is allowed to prevail on Tamil Eelam.