Abstract
Abstract Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary’s statement indicating that Colombo would adopt “ India First” foreign policy appears to be a much-consoling phrase for the Indian diplomats. It is a fact beyond any dispute that New Delhi felt anxious about Sri Lanka’s extensive hobnobbing with China for years that has finally seen massive Chinese presence in the island nation. Given Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian ocean as a crucial hub in the Indian ocean governance, Colombo’s relations with Beijing have always created a tense situation in India. However, the newly elected president of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government’s novel approach to profess their foreign policy as India cantered doctrine raises some perplexity with the realpolitik caught by Sri Lanka. This paper seeks to examine the asymmetrical relationship that existed between Indian and Sri Lanka after the independence of both nations, wherein New Delhi used different means to carve Sri Lanka’s external relations for the best interests of India. Furthermore, this paper analyses the unequal position Sri Lanka has been facing as a small nation located near a ricing global power and how Sri Lanka struggles to balance both India and China in their rivalry in the Indian Ocean. The results emerge from this paper will reveal the impossibility of upholding neutrality for a small state before complex geopolitical power struggles.
Highlights
Thucydides seminal work “The History of the Peloponnesian War “is undeniably the most palpable narrative in ascertaining the political destinies of small states from the realist’s perspective
Ludowyk states “More often than not... found itself drawn into the wars of the South Indian kingdoms, either in self-defense or in alliance with one or other of the warring princes.”[4]. The idea of otherness has always prevailed as a part of Sri Lankan identity throughout its history, yet it could not completely liberate itself from the orbit of India which created an ambivalence in the relations between the two countries
The mechanism that Sri Lanka is likely to adopt in handling both Beijing and New Delhi is quite similar to the notion of “strategic hedging” in modern international relations which provides an apt explanation on the competitive behaviour of a secondary state strategy in pursuing contradictory policy choices and ambiguous security alignments with major powers
Summary
Thucydides seminal work “The History of the Peloponnesian War “is undeniably the most palpable narrative in ascertaining the political destinies of small states from the realist’s perspective. The echo roared among Indian politicians and intellectuals regarding the annexation of Sri Lanka, especially its Trinco harbor igniting the fear of Sri Lanka’s first premier to accelerate the defense pact with former colonial master the United Kingdom In justifying his pact with the UK before the coarse criticism came from his political opponents, Senanyake stated “the defence of the country is one of the primary obligations of an independent state and this is not the sort of world in which small nations can be secure without large and expensive armed forces...Frankly I cannot accept the responsibility of being Minister unless I am provided with means of defence”.9.
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