Why India wants to show Sri Lanka a lesson after its Colombo port U-Turn and begin treating it as a hostile neighbour

Just when it appeared just like the neighbouring island nation of Sri Lanka had began mending its methods by adhering increasingly more to the Indian facet and decoupling itself from the Chinese clutches, comes one other resolution which reveals that Colombo is but to be trusted totally by New Delhi. According to media stories, the Gotabaya Rajapaksa cabinet on Monday cancelled the trilateral Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) challenge between Sri Lanka, Japan, and India. The East terminal will now be 100 per cent owned and operated by the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA)Colombo had beforehand acknowledged that the port can be 49 per cent operated by India and Japan, with SLPA retaining the bulk stake. The stated settlement was first signed by the previous Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration. Instead, the 2 nations will now be invited to develop the close by West terminal on a public-private partnership foundation.The Indian facet conveyed its dismay in muted phrases and known as Sri Lanka to honour its settlement to permit it to function the port terminal. “The commitment of Government of Sri Lanka in this regard has been conveyed several times in the recent past, including at the leadership level. Sri Lanka cabinet also took a decision three months ago to implement the project with foreign investors,” the embassy stated.The full volte-face from the Sri Lankan regime has come as a shocker to many consultants maintaining a tally of the developments. India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had visited Colombo final yr to offer the ultimate touches to the deal and it seemed like signing the settlement was a mere formality now.But, the Rajapaksa cabinet immediately cancelled everything of the deal and walked again on the choice saying it was below strain from the commerce unions and the general public response was not in favour of the settlement. However, stories and allegations swirling among the many diplomatic circle have insinuated that the Chinese performed a serious function in instigating port unions’ protest in opposition to India’s curiosity.The concept can’t be handed off as mere gossip as a result of China nonetheless has appreciable sway within the island nation, Sri Lanka. Since capturing the Hambantota port in 2016, Colombo has been dragged in chains by its Chinese masters, and the whole endeavour to cancel the ECT challenge, reeks of Chinese intervention. Read extra: ‘Hambantota was a mistake,’ Sri Lanka makes it clear that India comes first for them and China just isn’t an allyThe lexicon utilized by PM Rajapaksa whereas detailing his resolution to again out of the deal raises additional questions. Unlike China, India was taking on the port to develop it and counter the Chinese menace. Rajapaksa talked about, ‘buying’ and promoting as if New Delhi was trying to emulate what Beijing did 4 years in the past. “There is no issue. We have not sold or leased this to anybody. This is under our control. If the trade unions came and spoke to me, I would have told them this. But, they are aware of this,” PM Rajapaksa had stated a day earlier earlier than the cabinet assembly.While having access to West Port Terminal will not be the worst factor to occur however the Indian authorities must ship a stern message to Sri Lanka that it can not take such selections unilaterally and never face any consequence for it.India could make life robust for Sri Lanka, isolating the tiny island nation, geo-politically and on the financial entrance. Sri Lanka relies on India for the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas China tries to pressure the inferior Sinopharm vaccine down its throat. The economic system of Sri Lanka is in tatters and it’s New Delhi that may assist it wade by way of these testing instances. However, if Colombo continues to trudge on this path, then New Delhi can be left with no selection however to take retrospective actions on it.