By Kalinga Seneviratne

At the height of Sri Lanka’s debt crisis two years ago, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar gave a talk at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University on India’s ‘Look East’ policy. I asked him during Q and A session whether India and China could cooperate to get the new BRICS bank to bail out Sri Lanka?

He smiled and told me that if India and China can cooperate, they can bail out more countries, not only Sri Lanka. Then he went on to explain the border problems in the Himalayas and China’s activities in disputed Kashmir as a barrier. But, to keep the Indian Ocean peaceful it is essential that India and China cooperate to assist Sri Lanka, and not allow outside powers to destabilise the Asian region.

Sri Lanka’s evolving political landscape following the historic elections on 21 September that brought Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to power open new opportunities for both powers, and they should not see it as a competition.

Dr S Jaishankar was quick off the mark, visiting Colombo 4 October. A statement issued by his ministry after the meeting emphasised the advancement of bilateral cooperation based on India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy to “facilitate Indian investments and job creation in Sri Lanka”. The contagious issue between the two countries, agreed over three decades ago, regarding the implementation of the 13th amendments to the constitution to devolve more power to Tamil dominated north-east was mentioned as a distance last issue in the statement. The Tamil issue, which dominated election platforms for the past three decades, went missing this time, as people focused on anti-corruption and grassroots development.

A day earlier, Chinese Ambassador to Sri........

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