· 18 comments · Save ·
News & Current Events Apr 21, 2026 at 6:11 PM

China Was Once Buying Up Sri Lankan Ports. Now It’s India’s Turn.

Posted by PhysicalImpression86

China Was Once Buying Up Sri Lankan Ports. Now It’s India’s Turn.
thediplomat.com
China Was Once Buying Up Sri Lankan Ports. Now It’s India’s Turn.
The Indian Ocean has no shortage of distressed strategic assets: financially stressed yards, ports, and logistics infrastructure in small states that cannot sustain them independently.
🚩 Report this post

18 Comments

Sign in to comment — or just click the box below.
🔒 Your email is never shown publicly.
PixelsOfTheEast Apr 21, 2026 +65
Since no one will bother reading past the headline, Sri Lanka wanted an Indian company to buy it so it doesn't face default. >Facing the potential default on a shipyard in which the Sri Lankan government itself holds a 49 percent stake, Colombo formally requested that New Delhi encourage Indian investors to consider the asset.
65
slimeyy_02 Apr 22, 2026 +18
Not even Sri Lanka, it was a Japanese company selling their shares to an Indian company, it's not like Sri Lanka had a majority share to begin with. Tf is this headline, it's like comparing apples to oranges.
18
Sesiebtesw Apr 21, 2026 +18
That's funny because that's what happened 10 years ago when Sri Lanka asked Indian investors to invest in their port. India said no so Sri Lanka asked China to invest and when China invested, the whole propaganda of the debt trap started.
18
PixelsOfTheEast Apr 21, 2026 +54
Completely different projects and rationale. Hambantota is a port, this is a shipyard. There was no demand for a new port in South Sri Lanka which is why no one was willing to invest in Hambantota. It was a vanity project by Rajapaksha family in their hometown. Chinese investors couldn't turn a profit either. The city has other white elephants like an underused airport & cricket stadium, all named after Rajapakshas. Colombo Dockyard on the other hand is an existing shipyard which is a going concern. It is only under stress because Sri Lankan government has high cost of capital since their default. The Indian company acquiring stake has a huge order book and has been looking to add shipbuilding capacity for some time which this shipyard (with four drydocks) provides.
54
deep7070 Apr 23, 2026 +3
The Chinese use debt trap as a policy, India doesn't.
3
Budget-Turnover3231 Apr 22, 2026 -8
Adani on his way for a c**** deal....
-8
PixelsOfTheEast Apr 22, 2026 +5
Its Mazgaon Dock. A PSU. And SL is selling stake in a shipyard, Adani is in ports.
5
bisi-bisi-idli Apr 21, 2026 +50
It's not the 80s anymore. LTTE was a thorn in both of our histories. But India and Sri Lanka have long gone ahead of these flesh wounds. When Sri Lanka was on the verge of default, not one Lankan politician was publicly visible. India's EAM was on the ground speaking with people there ascertaining the situation at petrol pumps. And India is Lanka's first responder and aid provider for SL's natural disasters. The relationship might be rocky, uneven yet these countries are civilizationally linked. If both sides are rational, even-minded and visionary in their policy and play their cards right, these two can easily navigate Indian Ocean region for the betterment of countries from East Africa to Timor-Leste (IF orange pedo TACOs off from Diego Garcia. UK can't do shit with BIOT anyway. This isn't Islas Malvinas 2.0 here)
50
LaserKittenz Apr 21, 2026 +22
Sri Lanka is to India as Canada is to the US, lots in common but culturally unique . It’s a good thing that these countries work together to represent their interests on the world stage.  Ideally they would be working with the south East Asian economic zones .  The world being broken into two “sides” is bad for everyone 
22
int6 Apr 22, 2026 +1
It’s not the Falklands, it’s an even worse target to try and forcibly take - a big military base with tons of American equipment.
1
Kaito__1412 Apr 21, 2026 -32
LoL. India helped to create the LTTE and helped them into power. They just turned out to be better than any indian at warfare. LTTE was not an inconvenience, it was tragic. Anyone who who has looked into this knows that.
-32
a-zelensky Apr 22, 2026 +19
Did you forget about Sinhala Only Act, which disenfranchised the Tamil speaking people in the North & East Sri Lanka ?
19
bisi-bisi-idli Apr 22, 2026 +5
British do love leaving a trail of mismanaged countries, don't they?
5
a-zelensky Apr 22, 2026 +3
What British ? The British left Sri Lanka in 1948 whereas Sinhala Only Act was passed in 1956.
3
DrawingDramatic1641 Apr 22, 2026 +6
Well why would india They have ports in India and is close to sri lanka India's own ports bring them money  Can someone explain Like china is far from Lanka so they
6
Hopeful-Explorer-443 Apr 22, 2026 +13
Requested by sri lankan govt so they can get finance in exchange for selling their stake
13
DrawingDramatic1641 Apr 22, 2026 +1
Oh ok
1
That-Resort2078 Apr 21, 2026 +17
I have more faith in India than China
17
← Back to Board