China in Sri Lanka and the Political Economic Crisis
Speaker(s): Abeyagoonasekera, A. (The Millennium Project)
Date: 2 August 2022
Speaker Session Summary
SMA hosted a speaker session with Mr. Asanga Abeyagoonasekera (The Millennium Project) as part of its SMA INDPOPACOM Speaker Series.
Mr. Abeyagoonasekera began the presentation by stating that China’s loans and investments in Sri Lanka are ultimately creating a debt trap. China is taking advantage of Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis, mounting debt, and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sri Lanka’s tourism-based economy to sign lucrative and opaque economic deals. These economic hardships were partly responsible for Sri Lankan leaders’ ignorance of the debt trap’s early warning signs. In addition to being opaque, Chinese loans are usually long-term and have a high interest rate. One such Chinese deal includes the 99-year lease on Sri Lanka’s Hamabantota Port. Other contributing features to China’s ability to create a debt trap in Sri Lanka are large import subsidizes, general democratic backsliding, and the heavy militarization of Sri Lankan society.
Debt trap diplomacy is a form of strategic diplomacy, Mr. Abeyagoonasekeraexplained. China is seeking to further support and influence other autocratic countries that align with their values and world views. In alignment with this goal, China’s ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), supports the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party and its authoritarian tendencies. Huawei 5G is another tool that China utilizes to increase influence Sri Lankan society. Eighty percent of Sri Lankan telecommunication hardware is Chinese, which enhances China’s ability to influence the media in Sri Lanka.
Several recommendations for the United States to help Sri Lanka mitigate Chinese influence include but are not limited to: a) increasing economic and political assistance from India; b) supporting a commitment to the rules-based order in Sri Lanka; c) helping Sri Lankan leaders recalibrate the nation’s foreign policy; and d) fighting to support values of democracy, human rights, and anti-corruption measures in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is an International Security and Geopolitics Analyst and StrategicAdvisor from Sri Lanka. Presently, he serves as a Senior Fellow at the Millennium Project inWashington, DC. In 2021, Mr. Abeyagoonasekera served as a Senior Researcher for Social Impact(USA), conducting a Political Economic Analysis (PEA) in Sri Lanka for USAID. Mr.Abeyagoonasekera has led two government think tanks providing strategic advocacy. Withalmost two decades of experience in the government sector in advisory positions and working atforeign policy and defence think tanks, he was the founding Director-General of the nationalsecurity think tank under the Ministry of Defence in Sri Lanka, the Instittue of National SecurityStudies Sri Lanka (INSSSL), until January 2020. Before this, he served as the Executive Director atthe foreign policy think tank, Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations andStrategic Studies (LKI). His recent book is on Sri Lanka’s geopolitical challenges, Conundrum of anIsland (Published by World Scientific, Singapore 2021). Mr. Abeyagoonasekera is an Alumnus ofthe US State Department IVLP, National Defense University (NESA, NDU) in Washington DC,APCSS (Hawaii), and YGL World Economic Forum (Geneva).
Site-wide Search
Search all site content, including all NSI and SMA publications, SMA Speaker series, NSI Team member bios, services, portfolio projects, company info, and more.
