From Maritime Blindness to Maritime Awareness: The Role of BRI and MSR in Sri Lanka

The problem of maritime blindness has long characterized the postcolonial world, where internal conflicts and limited resources have made these countries neglect their maritime spaces, which are critical for trade, connectivity, and strategic depth. This has resulted in the under-appreciation of maritime spaces despite their geographic, economic, or geopolitical importance, making them pawns in other geopolitical imagining and engineering. In the 21st century, China’s rise through its global connectivity project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Maritime Silk Road (MSR) has invited praise and apprehension. While the initiative promises to create sustainable infrastructure across the globe and improve connectivity by rejuvenating the old nostalgia of the Silk Route and heritage politics, this project is often accused of debt-trap diplomacy. The over-dependency on Chinese loans threatens the sovereignty and exerts undue geopolitical influence on the recipient country. Yet despite this, countries continue to accept Chinese loans to boost their maritime infrastructure, trade, and security. This ambitious Chinese project has been instrumental in reshaping maritime geographies, particularly by investing in the neglected spaces and the “void” left by the government.