NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka, India, and Japan: Until recently, a partnership involving these three countries may have merited little consideration. But Sri Lanka’s economic collapse last year, China’s refusal to help, and India’s rescue act have brought this issue to the fore
India lacks the deep pockets and technological heft that can help its small island neighbour move up the economic ladder. So India threw a line to Japan, which has all of the above. There was another incentive: Japan sees a threat from China in the maritime domain. Add to that, China’s debt-driven diplomacy has seen prized strategic assets of various countries, including Sri Lanka, being handed over to entities controlled by Beijing.
So Japan has stepped in, helped in some measure by the fact that it has been present on the island for many years as an aid giver. Could this new arrangement work? As the saying goes only time will tell but a report by the Colombo think tank Pathfinder Foundation, has urged a greater role for India and Japan in the country’s economic transformation.
