Sri Lanka

In addition to long-time player India, China’s Sinopec has also acquired rights to operate in the island’s retail market.

Labor reforms are touted as a panacea for economic woes but they essentially aim at facilitating dismissal of workers.

The Sri Lankan president finds himself in a unique situation that allows him to implement IMF recommendations in full, a fact that the IMF wouldn’t have missed.

The 25-year contract with the petroleum giant is expected to ease the fuel shortage in the country.

Several Chinese delegations have traveled to Sri Lanka in recent months and Chinese investments could spike, prompting alarmist reporting in the Indian media.

If torture is to be eradicated in Sri Lanka the institutions of the magistrate and police need to be reformed.

China Merchant Port Holding Company (CMPH), which already has a dominant presence in Sri Lankan harbors, will be setting up a warehousing hub in Colombo port.  

The government is arming itself with a law to crush mass protests and strikes aimed at opposing its economic policies and IMF austerity measures.

Speculation is rife over supposedly China-constructed facilities on Myanmar’s Coco Island that could be put to Chinese military use “when required.”

Damage to crops can be minimized by preventing the destruction of forests, experts say.   

The primary demand of the 2022 protests – the removal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa from his role as president – has been achieved, but the secondary demand of “system change” has not.