Neutrality and balance — Colombo’s habitual vocabulary — have yielded little economic benefit. Ultimately, Sri Lanka slid into bankruptcy. Given this background, the land link is not merely a strategic starting point but a necessity. India’s strategic position on Sri Lanka is perennial; whether the bridge is built or not, India’s concerns remain fundamental. As an immediate neighbour and rising global power, India will not allow rivals to use Sri Lanka as a base.
If India and China choose collaboration by setting aside strategic suspicion in the climate domain, they could fundamentally reshape the trajectory of the 21st century, as they have already demonstrated individually through their pursuit of clean energy over the past decade. More importantly, such a coalition could revive the COP28 fossil-fuel phase-down pledge, which stalled at COP29 in Baku and appears to be drifting further at COP30 in Belém.
Increased industrial activity in India could generate demand for raw materials, intermediate goods, and services from countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh’s textile industry could strengthen its links with Indian manufacturing networks, while Sri Lanka may gain from expanded opportunities in tourism, logistics, and services.
ADB’s role has evolved beyond financing into shaping India’s structural transformation into a high-growth, technology-driven, and climate-conscious economy. Compared to other multilateral institutions, it offers a more agile, implementation-focused, and regionally attuned approach. As India moves toward becoming one of the world’s largest economies, this partnership will play a defining role in shaping not only India’s growth trajectory but also the broader economic future of Asia.
The region needs active cooperation to effectively respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic like economic recovery and uplifting rural livelihood, said Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at a meeting on the COVID-19 response, a regional initiative taken by China
With India halting export of Oxford-AstraZaneca vaccine following a massive spike in Covid 19 infection, Bangladesh has now turned to China for the jab, The Daily Star reported
Chinese State Councilor and Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, now on a visit to Bangladesh at a time the two nations are in discussion over COVID-19 vaccine cooperation, paid tributes to the nation’s founder and its first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka on Tuesday
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is into Sri Lanka Tuesday on an official three-day visit
China's state-run Sichuan Airlines has stopped all its cargo flights to India for the next 15 days, hurting the efforts of the private traders to source the oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies needed to treat the critical cases of COVID-19 even as China offered "support and assistance" to the country to battle the deadly-second wave of the infection, according to media reports
In the wake of uncertainty over getting purchased doses from India, Bangladesh has decided to join China’s COVID-19 vaccine storage facility for South Asia, bdnews24.com reported
Sri Lanka officials have asked a Chinese vessel that was carrying radioactive material to leave Hambantota port immediately, reported Newswire
The Chinese government has sent a final funding proposal for Pakistan’s $6.8 billion modern rail project, ML-1, to the Exim Bank of China, as per a report in The Express Tribune
As Bangladesh struggles to procure vaccines, Sinopharm, the Chinese drug firm, has offered to provide six million doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to the country, a report in The Daily Star said
Under attack from all sides over the controversial Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, the Sri Lankan government defended the move, saying the city will not become a Chinese colony
Sri Lanka is expected to receive $500 million in dollar credit from the China Development Bank this month, according to a report in The Sunday Morning
The only way before the US and the world is to confront China in the economic, diplomatic, and military spheres, writes Ivaylo Valchev for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan and China have agreed to jointly safeguard peace and stability of the world, especially Asia, and strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism and peacekeeping in the UN framework, according to a report in Dawn
China forcibly entered Tibet, then an independent country, a few decades back and violently suppressed the protest by the Tibetans
India hassaid it would like to see disengagement by Chinese troops in the remaining areas of Eastern Ladakh which would lead to restoration of peace with Beijing
