India is afraid of anything, the new president of Sri Lanka came to power, immediately expressed his intention to seek China's support and continue to promote friendly cooperation between the two countries, who is this new president, why is India so worried?
According to the Observer, the leader of Sri Lanka's "National People's Power" party, Disanayake, has been successfully elected as the ninth president of Sri Lanka.
The People's Power of the National party, formerly known as the People's Liberation Front, a left-wing Sri Lankan party, is known for its anti-India stance and led the armed struggle against India army in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990.
And Disanayak himself has also spoken harshly about India's commercial projects in Sri Lanka, saying that after he is elected president, he will cancel the wind power project of India business giant Adani Group in Sri Lanka because it threatens their energy sovereignty.
So now the victory of Disanayake has made India very uneasy and deeply worried about the relationship between the two countries.
Disanayak
After all, India has long regarded Sri Lanka and other countries as its "little brother", influencing and even dominating the policy direction of these countries in the form of so-called military presence and economic investment.
At the same time, the Indian media is also worried that after Dissanayake takes office, Sri Lanka will be "closer to China" and increase economic cooperation with China.
And it turns out that the more India is afraid of something, the more something will happen.
Harini, the new Sri Lankan Prime Minister appointed by Dissanayake, said a few days ago that the new Sri Lankan government looks forward to continuing to promote Sino-Sri Lankan friendship and cooperation and will seek China's greatest support.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi
In fact, this is expected, because for Sri Lanka now, strengthening cooperation with China and seeking Chinese investment is the most effective and prudent way out.
In 2022, Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis since independence, with its foreign exchange reserves drying up, public debt surging to $83 billion, and inflation soaring to 70%.
The fact that Dissanayake is a "grassroots" person who won the presidential election as a changemaker means that Sri Lankans do have high hopes for it and are desperate to see something change.
If Dissanayake wants to secure the presidency, he must start to solve these economic and livelihood problems that he is currently facing, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public, and he is destined to resign amid popular protests, just like his predecessor Rajapaksa.
Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Gunawardena
Although India has also made some investment in Sri Lanka, on the whole, India has caused them a lot of problems, and there are many anti-India voices among the people.
So in this context, China seems to have become their "lifeline".
In March this year, Gunawardana, who was then Sri Lanka's prime minister, visited China to discuss cooperation, during which he said that China agreed to help Sri Lanka develop the Hambantota port and Colombo airport.
Judging from the current situation, although Dissanayake will be cautious in handling foreign affairs, it is very likely that he will be more enthusiastic than the previous government in seeking investment from China.
Port of Hambantota
As a matter of fact, we have long spoken out about the predicament faced by Sri Lanka, and we are willing to play a constructive role in the stable development of Sri Lanka's economy and society on the premise of the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and respecting their wishes.
In a word, we are open to cooperation, the key depends on how the other party chooses, if there is a situation of eating and smashing the pot, it will only let them fall into a bigger whirlpool, and at that time there will really be no one to count on.