Sri Lanka between Geopolitical Interests of China and India

Abstract

Sri Lanka has become a point of interest in the Indian Ocean in the 21st century due to her geostrategically attractive position. Precisely, the pearl of the Indian Ocean is now in dilemma due to the conflicting interests of rising powers of Asia; India and China. India is the mighty neighbour lying nearest to Sri Lanka. Both countries have had crucial relationships from the past days. For India, Sri Lanka can impact on India�??s strategic and security interests. Thus India is reluctant to the presence of another major power like China in Sri Lanka. On the contrary, Sri Lanka lying on one of the busiest sea routes has attained the economic companionship of China. As a result eventually Sri Lanka had to encompass into the power politics within these countries. India and China are the largest countries in the world when it comes to population. According to Revision of World Population Prospects (2015), India with approximately 1.24 billion people in 2014, and China 1.39 billion of people in 2014 covers together 36.41% of total population of the world. Even when it comes to global power politics both these countries are considered great powers in global politics. The paper will provide a discussion on Sri Lanka approach to balance good ties between these two regional superpowers. The objective of this study is to assess the importance of support given by both India and China. Information in this regard will be derived from secondary sources i.e. reference of text books, electronic data bases, journals, etc. Most importantly the paper will propose that this location of Sri Lanka has a great advantage towards the country�??s successful development if professionally used.