By TON Research Section  

Last week China annoyance at India for interfering into Chinese Firms in Sri Lanka is a glaring example of India interference in the internal affairs of south Asian countries. The Chinese government highly criticized India for meddling in Chinese companies' energy projects in Sri Lanka, quoting that New Delhi's meddling postures a grave danger to growth and affluence in South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. The comments came after Indian media reported that a project involving the installation of hybrid energy projects on some Sri Lankan islands had been shelved, owing to "security concerns from a third party.It has taken India almost a year to bring China out of the three islands of the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka.

In January 2021, India was taken aback by an announcement that the Ceylon Electricity Board had decided to award a contract to Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, a Chinese company, to build “hybrid renewable energy systems” on three islands off the coast of Jaffna.The three northern islands, Delft, Nagadipa and Analathivu, are strategically located and red flags have been flown at New Delhi due to India’s security sensitivities.

Then the Indian government maneuvered and forced the Rajapaksa family in power in Sri Lanka and offered to build the same system at lower cost. As the India offered a large chunk of money as grants, including very small loan components that’s why the Sri Lanka had could hardly refuse to Indian offer. Then India offered to execute the project with a grant of $12 million. During the recent visit of Sri Lankan Finance Minister traveling to India Sri Lanka agreed to cancel the Chinese offer and hand over the project to India.

Ironically, India used lame excuse of security to meddle in the project in contrast of fact that the Sri Lankan project is small, supplying electricity to villages on three small islands. Since the islands and the main territory of Sri Lanka are separated by the sea, it is very likely that the power grid will not be connected to other places in Sri Lanka.”All major renewable energy projects in the world are installed with data collection systems to collect weather information, such as wind speed and light intensity. However, since 2010 this information has been required to be saved at local data centers as countries around the world have strengthened data security.

India has not only taken Sri Lanka economically hostage in south Asia in a bid to thwart China from helping Sri Lanka .As matter  of fact  India's see China as the potential threat for India hegemony in the south Asia. India received a heavy blow after the deadly Galwan Valley border clash last year, and it has gotten more sensitive on South Asian countries regarding Chinese influence. India is pursuing head-to-head competition with China in the Indian Ocean by using all its means.

The current India's interfering in projects is certainly hurting the national interest of Sri Lanka. Similarly a project being started in the Maldives as the Maldives' Minister of Environment said in a tweet that the country is installing a total of 2.5 MW of solar photovoltaic power in all the inhabited islands in the Thaa Atoll.

The Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, after being suspended from building a Hybrid Energy system in three northern islands due to "security concerns" from a third party, signed a contract with the Maldivian government to establish solar power plants on 12 islands in the Maldives.

"If the project is operated successfully in Sri Lanka, it could avoid over 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year," Sinosoar's Solar Hybrid System for Sri Lanka was to have a capacity of 1,700 kilowatts (KW) at peak solar power and 530 KW of wind power. The planned capacity for the battery energy storage system was 2,350 KW and that of the generators was 2,050 KW, according to an article from the company on Sina Weibo in August.

It is not the first time for India to put pressure on Sri Lanka over a Chinese investment project. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said it signed an agreement with India's Adani Group to build a new terminal next to a $500-million Chinese-run jetty in Colombo this move being seen as countering China's rising influence in the South Asia region.