China-India cooperation and competition in Sri Lanka under the “Belt and Road” Initiative

Abstract The close interaction between China and Sri Lanka has aroused strong opposition from India, which has acted to hedge against the Chinese influence in Sri Lanka, based on the consideration of establishing exclusive regional hegemony in the South Asian Indian Ocean and maintaining greater hostility to China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative with small and medium-sized countries in the South Asian Indian Ocean region. China-Sri Lanka cooperation is not targeted at any specific third party, and the two countries are always willing to carry out multilateral cooperation with any country that is willing to cooperate. In the future, when China and India can resolve their differences and reach a consensus on regional cooperation, the two sides can promote the high-quality development of connectivity in South Asia under the “Belt and Road” Initiative by welcoming Indian merchant ships to dock at the Hambantota Port, encouraging Chinese and Indian enterprises to invest in the Hambantota Park or settle in the Colombo Port City, and jointly providing humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka. At its root, the normal development of the trilateral relations among China, India and Sri Lanka still requires China and India to reach a consensus on regional cooperation.