{"id":214245,"date":"2020-10-31T15:13:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T09:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=214245"},"modified":"2020-11-04T02:30:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T21:00:52","slug":"will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Patrick Mendis\u00a0and\u00a0Dominique Reichenbach –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Following top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi\u2019s\u00a0meeting<\/a>\u00a0with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka earlier in October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Colombo on October 27 for a two-day visit. After\u00a0signing<\/a>\u00a0the last of four foundational agreements for military ties with India, Pompeo\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0the pro-Chinese administration in Colombo that \u201cthe Chinese Communist Party is a predator\u201d while \u201cthe United States comes in a different way \u2014 we come as a friend and a partner.\u201d Notably, Pompeo\u2019s visit piggybacked off of the \u201c2+2 Ministerial Dialogue<\/a>\u201d in India, which was also intended to curb Chinese influence in South Asia by strengthening U.S.-India military and diplomatic ties.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage\u2019s\u00a0commitment<\/a>\u00a0to a \u201cneutral\u201d and \u201cIndia First\u201d approach to tensions among India, China, and the United States, the pro-Beijing Rajapaksa administration\u2019s actions speak louder than its words. Pompeo may\u00a0want<\/a>\u00a0Sri Lanka to \u201cmake difficult but necessary decisions\u201d to reject Chinese aid in favor of economic partnership with the United States; however, Sri Lanka has repeatedly chosen China for its economic and development needs. Pompeo\u2019s visit did little to sway the Rajapaksa administration from China\u2019s\u00a0power of the purse<\/a>\u00a0and its history of\u00a0Buddhist diplomacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SOFA, MCC, and China\u2019s COVID-19 Diplomacy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Since the United States\u00a0failed<\/a>\u00a0to renew its Status of Armed Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Sri Lanka and\u00a0fell short<\/a>\u00a0of finalizing its $480 million Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) accord in February, China has successfully amplified its efforts to cement economic relationships with Sri Lanka. Through a financial \u201cart of war<\/a>,\u201d China has become Sri Lanka\u2019s unfailing economic and diplomatic partner in need.<\/p>\n

China first provided a concessionary loan of\u00a0$500 million<\/a>\u00a0for COVID-19 relief at the urgent request of the Rajapaksa administration in March 2020. Shortly thereafter, in May, Sri Lankan officials approved a decision to borrow\u00a0$80 million<\/a>\u00a0from China to improve road infrastructure. China then pledged another\u00a0$90 million<\/a>\u00a0grant to the island nation for medical care, education, and water supplies soon after Yang\u2019s visit. The two partners are currently negotiating terms for a\u00a0$1.5 billion<\/a>\u00a0currency swap and a new\u00a0$700 million<\/a>\u00a0loan, marking Colombo\u2019s fourth loan request to Beijing this year.<\/p>\n

China has also cemented its Sri Lankan foothold through health care donation diplomacy and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In early June, China\u00a0established<\/a>\u00a0the \u201cChina-Sri Lanka Belt and Road Political Parties Joint Consultation Mechanism\u201d intended to strengthen \u201cexchanges on governance<\/a>.\u201d By late June, China sent its\u00a0third round<\/a>\u00a0of medical supplies to Sri Lanka, including 30,000 PCR testing kits, 30,000 disposable coveralls, 600,000 surgical masks, and 30,000 medical goggles.<\/p>\n

In comparison, the United States has provided a mere $5.8 million\u00a0grant<\/a>\u00a0and 200\u00a0ventilators<\/a>\u00a0to Sri Lanka for COVID-19 relief. India\u00a0finalized<\/a>\u00a0a $400 million currency swap, and is considering an additional $1.1 billion swap to help with the economic fallout from the virus. To date, India and the U.S. lack a dollar-to-dollar competitive advantage in Sri Lanka that would have made Pompeo\u2019s visit effective in steering the island democracy away from Chinese partnership.<\/p>\n

With Sri Lanka owing over $5 billion to China, President Rajapaksa has faced pressure to distance Colombo from Beijing\u2019s debt trap tendencies. However, he has rejected debt trap claims,\u00a0stating<\/a>\u00a0that Chinese-funded projects \u201cwill help improve the living standards of the people.\u201d The Rajapaksa administration is well-aware of its financial decisions,\u00a0arguing<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cin different times in world history, different countries have been the ones who have had the most amount of cash. And now it happens to be China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beijing Consensus in Colombo<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Even if internal pressure to reject China continued, Rajapaksa\u2019s recent sweeping power grab\u00a0allowing<\/a>\u00a0him to appoint top officials and dissolve parliament means that his decisions regarding China will go unchecked. The Parliament overwhelmingly\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0the 20th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution,\u00a0concentrating absolute powers under the president and reversing reforms made to curb authoritarianism. The amendment lifted a ban on dual citizens holding office, which will\u00a0allow<\/a>\u00a0\u201ca sibling who is a U.S. citizen to enter Parliament, further strengthening the Rajapaksa family\u2019s hold on Sri Lanka\u2019s political power.\u201d Currently, Rajapaksa\u2019s older brother, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, serves as prime minister and another brother and three nephews are lawmakers. This consolidation of power will leave the pro-Chinese Rajapaksa family in charge for years to come.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Pompeo must reopen dialogue about the MCC accord and shelve SOFA discussions for the foreseeable future if it hopes to counter China. Washington\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0Sri Lanka to choose the United States over China to \u201csecure its economic independence for long-term prosperity.\u201d However, the MCC accord originally failed because Sri Lanka saw through its attempts at masquerading as a means of \u201ceconomic independence,\u201d while the strings-attached\u00a0threat<\/a>\u00a0of SOFA hung in the air as a \u201cvery serious infringement on the country\u2019s sovereignty.\u201d If SOFA is replaced with a less invasive attempt at securing military and economic cooperation, Pompeo\u2019s future dealings with Sri Lanka might be more successful at providing a \u201ctransparent<\/a>\u201d alternative to China\u2019s less-than-pure economic intentions in the island nation, which is strategically located along major Indian Ocean maritime shipping and air routes.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Sri Lanka has become a major target of Beijing\u2019s\u00a0tributary<\/a>\u00a0foreign policy and growing influence in South Asia. Given President Rajapaksa\u2019s recent seizure of power and his family\u2019s penchant for Chinese economic assistance, Pompeo\u2019s mission to persuade Sri Lanka away from its strategic alliance with Beijing will continue to fail without major financial and military concessions for the pending MCC and SOFA accords from Washington.<\/p>\n

*Dr.\u00a0Patrick Mendis<\/a>, a former American diplomat and a military professor in the NATO and Pacific Commands, is a Taiwan fellow of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China and a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taipei. Dominique Reichenbach, an American David Boren scholar, served as a research intern and teaching assistant at NCCU. Their views expressed in this analysis do not represent the official positions of the current or past affiliation of their institutions nor the respective governments. This article is courtesy of The Diplomat.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":214195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWill The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-31T09:43:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-03T21:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/\",\"name\":\"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-31T09:43:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-03T21:00:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e01042a68e5756cf53e46447fca2d04c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e01042a68e5756cf53e46447fca2d04c\",\"name\":\"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e006a1265e596ef3b964bdb654e4be786e2c182ae56c39c996fa1b2754fe949?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e006a1265e596ef3b964bdb654e4be786e2c182ae56c39c996fa1b2754fe949?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/patmedom\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2020-10-31T09:43:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-03T21:00:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/","name":"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka? - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-31T09:43:34+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-03T21:00:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e01042a68e5756cf53e46447fca2d04c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg","width":960,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/will-the-us-counterbalance-chinas-growing-influence-in-sri-lanka\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will The US Counterbalance China\u2019s Growing Influence In Sri Lanka?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e01042a68e5756cf53e46447fca2d04c","name":"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e006a1265e596ef3b964bdb654e4be786e2c182ae56c39c996fa1b2754fe949?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e006a1265e596ef3b964bdb654e4be786e2c182ae56c39c996fa1b2754fe949?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Patrick Mendis and Dominique Reichenbach"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/patmedom\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Mike-Pompeo-Sri-Lanka-Gotabaya.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214247,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214245\/revisions\/214247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}