Reasons For The Sri Lankan Government's Shift In Foreign Policy Toward China (2005-2019

During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first administration(2005 to 2010),China gave substantive help to Sri Lanka in its Civil War and helped Sri Lanka’s post-war economic recovery,which promoted Sri Lanka’s relations with China.However,Mahinda Rajapaksa adjusted Sri Lanka’s policy towards China in his second term,switching to a “balanced policy” between China and India.Since President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015,Sri Lanka has been pursuing an even more obvious policy of seeking balance between China and India.Seeking to explore the sources of Sri Lanka’s policy changes,this thesis argues that Sri Lanka’s security and economic considerations as well as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s personal features combined to cause the above-mentioned policy switch.Fearing the resurgence of the Tamil Tigers,Sri Lanka had to develop friendly relations with India.However,the power gap between Sri Lanka and India forced the former to seek outside powers like China to balance security threats from India.Economically,Sri Lanka needs assistances from both China and India to boost economic growth.At the individual level,President Rajapaksa’s personal experiences forged his skeptical attitude towards India.However,due to the common history and culture Sri Lanka and India shared,Rajapaksa was unable to ignore India.In sum,this paper argues that President Rajapaksa changed his pro-China diplomatic strategy during his second term and chose to ease relations with India.