Opportunities for Sri Lanka through China-Sri Lanka Relations (2004-2015)

Abstract

Foreign policy of Sri Lanka has always maintained cordial relations with the world with the concept of non-alignment. China was one of the countries which had maintained strong relations with Sri Lanka since the 1952 Rubber Rice Pact. During the period of President Mahinda Rajapaksa (2004-2014), China has gained a prominent place in the country’s foreign policy. The present study intends to ‘identify positive opportunities which open up to Sri Lanka through maintaining of cordial relations with China during the period from 2004 to 2015’. The methodology that has followed for the study is qualitative in nature along with descriptive analysis. For the study, only secondary data has used. In examine the above research problem; the study only focuses on the strengths from content analysis. According to the findings of the study, the positive opportunities that possessed from China-Sri Lanka relations to Sri Lanka are, military assistance and aid during the peak of the war, financial aid for infrastructure development, investment in Sri Lanka, trade relations and political support from China to Sri Lanka during the post war period. In the conclusion, it can be elaborate that even though there are mutual benefits to both Sri Lanka and China through their strong relations, Sri Lanka itself could address its requirements depending on the Chinese source of assistance. In the meantime, China’s strategic interest has been achieved by establishing their presence in Sri Lanka which have sustained their ‘String of Pearls “policy? chain in Indian Ocean.