The Lotus Tower and the Indo-Pacific Region

INSSSL Security Salon

The Lotus Tower and the Indo-Pacific Region:
How Should Sri Lanka Balance its Development Needs and Sovereignty Issues as China's Geo-economics and America's Geopolitics Intersect in Colombo?

by Professor Patrick Mendis

Date: 11th December 2017
Time: 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Venue: Ministry of Defence
 
Abstract:
 
 
The Trump White House reinvented the concept of “Indo-Pacific” region as America's new Asia policy to include India to its “arch of democracies” and military allies of Australia, Japan, and South Korea. The quadrilateral approach is designed to prevent China’s rise in the region. Although India has not yet signed a formal military alliance with the US, New Delhi has invoked its ancient Buddhist links as tools of diplomacy—long after Beijing did—to deal Sri Lanka. Colombo has become a key interlocutor to this Indo-Pacific dialogue as the “New Era” of President Xi Jinping—through his Belt and Road Initiative—gains greater influence in the Buddhist Kingdom as signified by the “Peaceful Rise” of the Lotus Tower. Beijing's grand strategy is intended to create a new “Pacific” world order—with far-reaching implications not only for Sri Lanka but also for the US and India in the next 99 years.