Feb 18th 2012 | COLOMBO AND DELHI
INDIA’S foreign minister, S.M. Krishna, gushes about the close “civilisational, cultural” ties his country shares with Sri Lanka. He notes how India is the biggest trading partner and source of tourists for the island nation, plus one of the largest investors. It dishes out pots of aid, including roughly $300m for 50,000 Tamils, displaced in a brutal civil war that ended in 2009, to build houses near Kilinochchi and Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s north. And India is building a power station, and renovating railways and a port.
Memories in Sri Lanka of India’s troubled role in the long and bitter civil war appear to be fading. Meanwhile, India, officially, does not worry about signs of its neighbour’s dalliance with China. That is despite the news last month that Chinese investors took 85% control of the project extending Colombo’s main commercial port, which handles goods traded almost entirely with India. “Sri Lanka is sensitive to the security concerns of India,” says the foreign minister, reassured.
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Wary of China, India tries to charm its neighbours
INDIA’S foreign minister, S.M. Krishna, gushes about the close “civilisational, cultural” ties his country shares with Sri Lanka. He notes how India is the biggest trading partner and source of tourists for the island nation, plus one of the largest investors. It dishes out pots of aid, including roughly $300m for 50,000 Tamils, displaced in a brutal civil war that ended in 2009, to build houses near Kilinochchi and Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s north. And India is building a power station, and renovating railways and a port.Memories in Sri Lanka of India’s troubled role in the long and bitter civil war appear to be fading. Meanwhile, India, officially, does not worry about signs of its neighbour’s dalliance with China. That is despite the news last month that Chinese investors took 85% control of the project extending Colombo’s main commercial port, which handles goods traded almost entirely with India. “Sri Lanka is sensitive to the security concerns of India,” says the foreign minister, reassured. Full Story>>>
