China, India and the Us Policy Towards the Indian Ocean and Its Implications for Sri Lanka’s Indian Ocean Policy

Abstract

Power struggles are a common occurrence in world politics and their impact depends on the nature of the parties to the struggle. As the 21st century being dubbed the century of Asia, the growing competition between China and India as two aspiring Asian nations to become global superpowers has shifted the gravity of world politics to the Indian Ocean region. The United States of America, as an existing superpower, seeks to maintain its position to retain its status despite the evolving world order. Accordingly, the direct and indirect actions of these three countries make the Indian Ocean region a contested domain for dominance. Sri Lanka, as a small country in the region, located centrally in the Indian Ocean, is strategically facing challenges due to the rivalry of the US, India, and China. With inherent dependency over these three ’ security and development. Although Sri Lanka has fundamental principles towards the Indian Ocean, current power relations relating to the Indian Ocean has created much uncertainty towards the peaceful existence of the IO. Therefore, Sri Lanka was compelled to re-strategize its policy in the Indian Ocean while broadening the scope of security. This paper provides a detailed study of the nature of current power rivalry in the Indian Ocean with specific policy expectations of major triangle of power of the Indian Ocean. Accordingly, it analyses the factors that influence Sri Lanka to formulate its policy towards the Indian Ocean region. It concludes that instead of acting on a stand-alone policy, Sri Lanka should strongly follow a policy of multilateralism to minimize the tension in the region and achieve its national interest through cooperation without taking a side of any power block which are trying to compete in the Indian Ocean to assure its hegemony