On 16th September 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping won Sri Lanka's support for a proposed maritime "Silk Road" which aims linking China with Europe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was able gain Sri Lanka’s support during his visit to Island nation as part of his South Asia tour which aimed to seek closer relations and support for his vision of a modern "Silk Road" sea route between China and Europe.
President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese leader to visit Sri Lanka in 28 years.
Both nations signed 27 agreements in areas, including highways and the construction of a joint coastal and marine research center. They also agreed to start negotiations on a free trade agreement.
As per China including Sri Lanka in maritime Silk Road will help to strengthen each other’s cooperation in areas such as port construction and development, development of coastal industrial parks, maritime economy and maritime security.
Earlier Chinese investment in the southern port of Hambantota (Southern Province, Sri Lanka) led many to speculation that Sri Lanka is meant to be a key stop along the maritime Silk Road.
Chinese President Xi even planned to help launch Colombo Port City with $1.4 billion in Chinese loans.
At present, China has become Sri Lanka's largest lender, providing more than $6 billion through September 2013 for port facilities, highways and a new international airport.
Two-way trade totaled more than $3 billion last year. It is considered as 368 percent increase since Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa came to power in 2005.
Seventeen percent of Sri Lanka's total imports are from China.
China also supplied weapons to the government during Sri Lanka's 27-year civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of ethnic Tamil separatists, and has defended the Indian
Ocean island nation from allegations of human rights abuses and calls for a U.N.
investigation into alleged war crimes.
China wants Maldives to join Maritime Silk Road project
China has invited the Maldives to actively participate in the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) project an initiative to string together partnerships with countries in the Asia-Pacific and the
Indian Ocean.
China and the Maldives even signed agreements to upgrade the Maldives’ airport and to build a bridge from Male, the capital, to the island hosting the Maldives’ international airport.
Maldives President Yameen suggested that the new bridge could be called “the ‘China Bridge’ to symbolize the friendly ties between the two countries.
‘Project Mausam’ – India’s answer to China’s ‘Maritime Silk Road
India will soon launch “Project Mausam”.
This project is considered as PM Narendra Modi government’s foreign policy initiative to counter-balance China’s rising influence in Indian Ocean region.
India’s Project Mausam is a transnational program aimed to restore its ancient maritime routes and cultural links with republics in the region.
This project emphasizes on the natural wind phenomenon, particularly monsoon winds used by Indian sailors in ancient times for maritime trade, that has formed relations among the nations and groups linked by the Indian Ocean.
Project Mausam main purposes is to determine the versatile Indian Ocean and to expand its influence in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka to the Southeast Asian archipelago.
India government will try to pull on its ancient connections with nations in this region as it proposes an alternative, which could counter-balance the maritime silk route of China.
India also faces the difficult job of matching China’s stress on building landmark infrastructure in the region, including ports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
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