A Study On China-Sri Lanka Relations(2005-2015)

It has been observed that bilateral relations between China and Sri Lanka have reached a new height during the past decade, which has culminated in a’strategic co-operation dialogue’in the present day. In light of these interesting observations, this research attempts to answer as to why this heightened intensity of relations emerged during the contemporary period and why not before, where Sri Lanka and China have had very close interactions particularly during the times of both Premier Sirimavo Bandaranayake and Premier Zhou Enlai, or even at a time where Madam Bandaranayake’s daughter Chandrika Bandaranayake became the President. The research is to enquire whether this hypothesis has any validity and if so, factors that led to the intensity of the relationship.During the course of the study, policies and attitudes of different political leaders towards China during pre-Rajapaksa’s period are also discussed as a precursor to the main research objective. For analytical purposes, the study has been divided into four main segments namely; political, economic, defence and cultural relations.The political chapter/s which are the main focus of this thesis, has been divided once again into the period before President Rajapaksa and during his two tenures.The second part of the study reflects upon economic, defence and cultural cooperation between the two nations. In this part of the thesis, this research analysis how Sri Lanka uses its political engagement cleverly to achieve its own economic and defence objectives to become a stable nation in the South/South East Asia. It has been revealed through the study that a strong positive correlation existed between increasing development assistance and defence cooperation which had been made possible due to the enhanced political interactions between President Rajapaksa and the leaders of China.In order to understand China-Sri Lanka relations through economic assistance and culture, this study attempts to analyse "Soft Power in Chinese Political Discourse", which has gained important grounds as a fine manoeuvring tool in China’s pursuance of relations with developing countries.During the study, an in-depth analysis has been done on China’s interest in the Indian Ocean and President Xi’s latest initiative "Maritime Silk Route in the 21st Century".This research in its final analysis builds up the hypothesis that by closely pursuing relations with Sri Lanka, China has achieved her short and medium term foreign policy — strategic objectives, while President Rajapaksa made use of this intense relationship to achieve his economic/political objectives and to contain international pressure brought to bear down on the country due to his style of governance.