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Sri Lanka has opted for the Rajapaksa clan to return to power, particularly feared by Tamil and Muslim minorities. Beyond the security aspect, the Sri Lankans have opted for a president who should operate a geopolitical rebalancing.
With our correspondent in New Delhi, Sébastien Farcis
Sri Lanka's new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in on Monday at a Buddhist temple, marking the return to power of the powerful and feared Rajapaksa clan, seven months after a wave of deadly attacks.
A return that will also have geopolitical consequences. The island could turn more towards China. Gotabaya Rajapaksa's brother, Mahinda, has indeed greatly opened the country to Chinese investments when he was president between 2005 and 2015. In a few years, Beijing built two ports, an airport, a congress center and kilometers of highways. , all thanks to Chinese commercial loans.
At the end of his term, Colombo owes five billion euros to Chinese banks, about 9% of its GDP at the time. Sums very difficult to repay. His successor, the outgoing President Mahitripala Sirisena tries to denounce these contracts, but can not succeed and must give way instead a strategic port to the Chinese.
India, big loser
Sri Lanka has fallen, like many countries in the region, into the trap of Chinese debt, and the influence of Beijing could only increase now that the Rajapaksa clan, which has strong links with power Chinese, returns to power.
India, natural and traditional ally, is the big loser even if New Delhi tries to catch up: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Mahinda Rajapaksa twice in the last year.