President Anura Kumara Dissanayake paid a state visit to the People’s Republic of China from January 14 to 17, 2025 and, a joint statement was issued on January 16. That joint statement states that “both parties agreed to follow the eight major steps announced by President Xi Jinping to support the One Belt One Road cooperation”, and “both parties signed the One Belt One Road corporate strategy plan.“It further states that the Sri Lankan government agreed”to move forward with all major projects including Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port, to fully utilize the programs such as Silk Road workshop, and to implement more livelihood programs in Sri Lanka in line with the principles of planning, building and reaping benefits together. One Belt - One Road cooperation is not just an economic development program but also China’s geopolitical strategy in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. It is no secret that the United States is in a program called ’Indo-Pacific Strategy’ against China and this power struggle has created a sharp tension in the Asian region, including the Indian Ocean region. The possibility of developing this from an economic and trade war, political and diplomatic contradiction into a state of an open military conflict cannot be ruled out. In this case, India is supporting the US, as a partner of the QUAD military cooperation as well as many other military cooperation agreements. The program is subservient to India’s own ambitions as a regional power. The joint statement issued with India on December 16, 2024, is a demonstration of the loyalty of the current government to India’s strategy in the Indian Ocean and to the US programme that gets its support. These two statements show that Sri Lanka is being included in the main geopolitical struggle in the Indian Ocean region.

Other important agreements that are not in the joint statement issued with China have been made during the visit. Signing an agreement approving China’s SINOPEC Company to build an oil refinery in Hambantota area is the main one among them. It was a proposed project from the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime and the successive administration of Ranil Wickramasinghe also approved it. Until now, the program could not be started because of the people’s opposition to it, and JVP, the main party of the current government, was also a prominent critic of the project at that time. The basis of the opposition to this project was that, on one hand, Sri Lanka was caught in a geopolitical project based on Hambantota Port. On the other hand, the problem caused to the energy sovereignty of Sri Lanka by foreign companies owning oil import, refining and distribution which has become a full monopoly of the Government of Sri Lanka according to the existing Petroleum Act. Moreover, the lack of clarity on how the money will be received by Sri Lanka, even though it is said to be an investment, was another reason. None of those reasons have changed this time either.

Since Hambantota port has already been owned by China for about a century, Sri Lanka will lose oil revenue from Hambantota port due to the opening of an oil refinery nearby. Under the conditions that the current government has agreed to India to continue the negotiations related to the project of running an Indian oil pipeline to Sri Lanka, there is a risk that Sri Lanka will lose the revenue from the supply of crude oil not only at the Trincomalee port but also at the Colombo port. This is not only a problem of loss of revenue, but also a risk of losing Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty, and the provision of military facilities in connection with these ports creates a national security risk. All these agreements show that the North and East are under Indian domination, while the southern province including Hambantota is under Chinese authority. The fact that both these regional powers are preparing for a strong intervention in Colombo makes the danger even more serious.

We expect the attention and active involvement of the entire people, including the working class of Sri Lanka, regarding these political dynamics which are developing in such a way that not only the economic sovereignty of Sri Lanka but also the political autonomy and the security of the people are at risk. We believe that the positions taken by the government are extremely serious in the geopolitical contradictions that have been announced in connection with the President’s visits to India and China. It is clear that a solution to this cannot be expected from the parliamentary opposition, which has held the same positions for a long time. Therefore, we urge for an organized intervention of the Sri Lankan people, including the working people, who have the potential to create alternatives to the economic-political-geopolitical and military challenges facing Sri Lanka and make them a reality.

Central Committee

Front Line Socialist Party

Central Committee, FLSP

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