By Ali Hassan
Trade appears to be the only immediate resolve of Sri Lanka’s internal problems so far. The island nation welcomes visiting ships primarily in Colombo port, which is the busiest transshipment port in South Asia and a crucial supply chain hub. The island nation is situated along the main east-west maritime lanes in the Indian Ocean. Following the shocks of the nation’s debt crisis in April and the prime minister’s departure in May, Colombo experienced a decline in container volume in June. The port experienced a backlog earlier this year, in part because of fuel shortages that reduced the number of vehicles able to deliver containers of products. As a result, several shipping companies were forced to shift cargo to Indian ports, which caused supply chains abroad to be disrupted.
It is more difficult to gauge the effect on regional security, but thus far it seems to be minor. The frequency of stories of naval ship visits in local media has decreased since the start of the internal crisis, which begs the issue of whether foreign naval sailors have been avoiding visits to Sri Lanka because of this challenging time for the nation. Two visits in August, though, are generating headlines. The Yuan Wang 5 ship from China arrived in Hambantota port, which is notable since Sri Lanka is allowing a first-time Chinese visit here. The other is a Pakistan Navy ship that arrived in Colombo port. Given the controversies surrounding Hambantota, the visit is particularly noteworthy. The Chinese-built and financed port was leased to a company in 2017.
As per Sri Lankan masses, with an unpopular president who was chosen by parliament rather than the people and who supported using police and army forces to disperse the main demonstration site, the political climate in Sri Lanka is still tense. Additionally, in order to achieve the austerity measures necessary to rebuild Sri Lanka’s economy, reductions in military budget may be necessary. This might affect Sri Lanka’s maritime troops’ capacity to keep an eye on its exclusive economic zone. The ability of the nation’s navy and coast guard to carry out maritime security operations, such as marine pollution response operations along important Indian Ocean water lanes, search and rescue of ships in distress, could be hampered by cuts to military spending and prevention of illegal migration and human smuggling a topic of increasing concern to India, Australia, and other Indian Ocean countries considering Sri Lankans who are desperate to leave the country.
The movement for naval modernization is an increasing global trend within the broad category of maritime security, which includes dealing with piracy, terrorism, territorial disputes, trafficking, and natural disasters. In order to protect their interests, states modernize their navies by modernizing their tools and assets and integrating cutting-edge military technology into marine operations. Recent changes in the Indian Ocean, including an assertive and growing Chinese presence and its rivalry with regional and global powers like the United States and India, put pressure on small South Asian states like Sri Lanka to modernize their navies in order to protect their borders. However, Sri Lanka also has other pressing maritime concerns such as illegal/unregulated fishing and human and drug trafficking and it may be more vulnerable to these in the short-to-medium term than the effects of India-China maritime competition. However, despite serious budgetary constraints and significant foreign assistance in defense, the idea of naval modernization continues to get priority in Sri Lankan defense policy circles, as evidenced by the “Sri Lanka Navy Maritime Strategy 2025.” Sri Lanka should be more strategic about dealing with its maritime security issues, prioritizing action and investment in tackling urgent threats based on an assessment of its resources.
Sri Lanka must first assess its resources before it can effectively address threats to marine security. It is a significant difficulty for a nation that finds it difficult to pay off its external debt to reduce its fiscal deficit while simultaneously keeping a sizable military and modernizing it. Making the best possible use of its resources to combat the most pressing problems, such as IUU fishing and drug trafficking, while also making investments in cutting-edge technology, like maritime drones, is thus a wise course of action. But given its economic problems and lack of a defense industry base, Sri Lanka may always need outside help. However, Colombo must exercise caution while dealing with both regional and extra-regional nations that offer it military support. It must be sure to properly understand their objectives and interests in order to prevent any negative effects of war on or near its coastlines.