Wickremesinghe Must Ensure Hambantota, China Won’t Cause Fresh Tensions for India during Visit – News18

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will arrive in New Delhi on Thursday for an official visit. Wickremesinghe, unlike his predecessors, did not visit India shortly after him being nominated as the norm is that new Sri Lankan leaders usually travel to India within a few weeks of taking office.

Ranil’s visit comes exactly a year after he took office. He can point to the internal unrest and the economic crisis in Sri Lanka but other than the timing of his visit, there are several other issues that will need to be addressed during Ranil’s New Delhi visit.

Sri Lanka-based news outlets have already pointed out that the visit is merely 27-hours long and not enough to strike a rapport with the Indian government. The Sunday Times said that it is like an official visit and not a state visit.

Wickremesinghe will arrive in India while keeping in mind that he has to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka’s largest neighbour who went all out to bail out Sri Lanka with several lines of credit and financial assistance worth $4 billion.

India even participated in the talks with the IMF and took the lead role in the financing of the $3 billion IMF bailout. New Delhi also helped Colombo build ties with its allies in Tokyo and other financial capitals so that it could find an exit from the crippling economic crisis which saw the exit of his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

But the proverbial elephant in the room – rather the dragon – is China and how Colombo’s relationship with Beijing impacts India’s role in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

According to the Indian Express, Wickremesinghe told Indian CEOs at a CEO Forum that it is “India’s time in the Indian Ocean”. The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) traditionally falls under India’s sphere of influence, so it has always been India’s backyard.

Chinese Shadow

Sri Lanka cannot ignore China as it is biggest bilateral creditor and recently a Chinese firm acquired a 99-year lease on the southern port of Hambantota after Colombo as the government was unable to repay the huge loan from Beijing to build it.

It also had no other option but to buckle under the Chinese as well as the $46 billion foreign debt pressure.

“The president will not only have to show gratitude, but reassure us that we will not do anything to hurt them,” political commentator Victor Ivan was quoted as saying by the AFP.

India has been concerned regarding Beijing’s moves in the IOR as it docked the Yuan Wang 5, a spy ship which Beijing calls a research vessel, at Hambantota in August.

To assuage India’s concerns, Sri Lanka earlier this week announced a new “standard operating procedure” for future port calls by foreign research vessels and military craft.

The report by AFP said that Wickremesinghe during his France visit dismissed speculation about Chinese military bases in Sri Lanka.

“No, we have no military agreements with China. There won’t be any military agreements. I don’t think China will enter into one. We are a neutral country, but we also emphasise on the fact that we cannot allow Sri Lanka to be used as a base for any threats against India,” Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

Tamil Demands

Wickremesinghe will also face pressure from some Tamil groups in India who demand provincial autonomy for the Tamil dominated-Northern Province. The Sri Lankan government has taken steps but they have held back when it comes to land and police-related issues, the Indian Express said.

The 13th Amendment is yet to be fully implemented and the government has received letters from Tamil groups to urge Wickremesinghe to implement it while checking the ‘Sinhalization’ of the northern province, where the pain and suffering of the Sri Lankan Tamil people from the 1980s to late 2000s.