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Chinese investments in Sri Lanka does not automatically translates into political influence – Menon
Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon has said that although China has invested heavily in countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, that does not automatically translate into political influence over a country’s foreign policy, popularity, or into soft power.
He said this responding to a question on the role of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plays in advancing China’s economic and soft power interests in South Asia during an interview with E-International Relations magazine.
“The BRI plays a very considerable role in advancing China’s interests. It plays to China’s strengths, which are economic, where it is not really matched by any other power in the subcontinent. Nor do outside powers prioritise countervailing China’s growing influence in the subcontinent. By committing over US$ 100 billion to BRI projects in the subcontinent, China has made herself indispensable to the infrastructure and economic plans of the leaders of several countries in the subcontinent,” he said.
However, at the same time the examples of Pakistan and Sri Lanka suggest that one should be cautious in drawing the conclusion that this automatically translates into political influence over a country’s foreign policy, popularity, or into soft power, he said.
“The attractiveness of the Chinese model or way of doing things is still rather limited, as is their power of attraction. This is still a work in progress and the Chinese leadership has often spoken of the need for China to gain soft power. So, its impact on India’s relations with these countries has not, to my mind, yet peaked. India has other affinities and common interests with our neighbours that China cannot match that I think we should concentrate on, rather than trying to match or imitate China,” he said.
Menon added that in his recent book ‘India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present‘, he suggests that China will not behave as Western powers have. He said that the Chinese are very conscious of their own political and strategic tradition. China, particularly their present leadership, see the last 150 years as a historical aberration, a “century of humiliation,” Menon said.
“It is an aberration in their mind from an imagined past when China was the preeminent power in the world, the largest economy, a technological leader, and so on. Objective historians and non-Chinese might have their own, different view of the past, but it is this perspective and the quest for primacy it produces that seems to drive China’s international behaviour now,” he said.
China’s is a different strategic culture from that of the two previous global superpowers, Great Britain and the USA, he said. The former Indian Foreign Secretary said that China’s geography, history, resource endowment and dependencies on the world are different from those western powers.
“Hence my sense is that they will not behave as western powers have. Today, China is yet to be a global superpower, and it is difficult to predict whether she will succeed in this quest, which is facing resistance,” he said.
Menon also said that if the political relationship between China and India remains adversarial, cutting their economic dependencies on China would become a strategic necessity.
“To my mind, the two countries need to find a new paradigm for the relationship, or a new strategic framework, within which to manage or settle these issues and to take the relationship forward. In other words, the present situation calls for a fundamental reset of India-China relations,” he said.
He added that the biggest challenge for India in the last decade was the fact that the international environment became less supportive of the efforts to transform India, particularly after the global economic crisis that began in 2007-8.
“The rise of China and the growth of China-US strategic rivalry changed the situation, opening new opportunities for India-US relations but also creating challenges in our neighbourhood and on the India-China border where China has been changing the status quo. China has emerged unequivocally as our greatest strategic challenge but is also our greatest trading partner. We now face a complex set of relationships with all our neighbours and the major powers in a world that is adrift between orders,” Menon said.
Menon also said that the idea of hard linear boundaries is a relatively recent one in history, a feature of the Westphalian state that has acquired popular legitimacy with the rise of nationalism. However, South Asia has “old nations in new states” he said, pointing to the limitations of these boundaries.
“For most of history, borders, as opposed to linear boundaries, were zones of interaction and communities straddled these borders, while trading, traveling, and carrying on the normal business of life across these porous borders.
With the evolution of India and its neighbours into modern Westphalian states in the second half of the 21st century, and the partitioning of the subcontinent into post-colonial states, hard boundaries were imposed on ancient communities and nations which did not coincide with natural features or ethnic divisions or with their patterns of life.
This is why border zones in most of our countries have been unstable and increasingly securitised by the state, with unfortunate consequences for the inhabitants. The most extreme example of this phenomenon is Pakistan. But I do believe that there are political and economic solutions to these issues which are increasingly being practised by the other countries in the subcontinent, such as India and Bangladesh,” he said.
A meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Marc-Andreé Franche, was held on the 20th of December 2025 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, Mr. Marc-Andreé Franche commended the swift coordination in which the Government acted to rescue affected communities and provide relief following the recent natural disaster situation faced by Sri Lanka.
Comparing experiences from other countries around the world, he noted that the level of international support Sri Lanka has received during such a disaster is exceptionally high. He further emphasized that he would utilize both his professional capacity and personal commitment to the fullest extent to ensure that Sri Lanka receives the necessary assistance.
Expressing appreciation for the continuous support extended by the United Nations to Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister stated that the role played by both the political authority and public officials in the field during this disaster management effort was exemplary. She highlighted that the collective and coordinated efforts of all parties from district leadership to the ground-level officials have become part in this success.
The Prime Minister also affirmed that the Government remains committed to properly managing the international assistance received and to rapidly restoring normalcy to the lives of people in the affected areas.
The meeting was attended by the secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri and Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
President, Academy of Health Professionals, Ravi Kumudesh, yesterday (22), alleged that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) decision to suspend several batches of Ondansetron Injection USP 8 mg/4 mL (Batch Nos: OD24021E, OD25009E, OD25024E, OD25023E), following suspicions of patient complications, and a few reported deaths, seemed to be a bid to cover-up the latest public health sector crisis.
Kumudesh said so responding to The Island queries.
Kumudesh pointed out that the Chief Executive Officer of the NMRA, and other responsible officials of the Ministry of Health, were on record as having said that the alleged bacterial contamination in the medicine in question was based on laboratory test results generated at the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Hospital, Kandy.
He, however, emphasised that the Kandy facility lacked legally mandated facilities, validated systems, or regulatory accreditation required to conduct pharmaceutical sterility testing in accordance with internationally accepted regulatory standards.
“The Academy of Health Professionals is aware that the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Hospital, Kandy, does not possess the required facilities,” Kumudesh said, urging the government to come clean in this matter.
Kumudesh said the regulatory action taken by the political authority was aimed at deceiving the public, and theAcademy of Health Professionals had raised the issues with Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Health Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe, NMRA head Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama and Director General Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena.
Kumudesh pointed out that the Kandy facility was meant to meet requirements within the Kandy National Hospital and not a world standard testing lab. Kumedesh sought an explanation as to how the suspended Ondansetron Injection had been administered on 13 December to a person warded at the hospital where NMRA head is based, a day after the NMRA decided to suspend it.
Public health sector trade union activist Kumudesh said that the Health Ministry couldn’t turn a blind eye to the disclosure that post-mortem reports of two persons, who allegedly died after being given the same medicine by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, did not identify the medicine as the cause of death. According to him, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases administered the same medicine to patients, on multiple occasions, in the wake of the controversy.
Kumudesh said that it would be the responsibility of the government to ensure a comprehensive technical, legal, and administrative investigation into, what he called, Ondansetron affair. Having lambasted all previous governments of waste, corruption and irregularities, at the expense of the hapless public, the NPP couldn’t, under any circumstances, side-step the issue. “In the interest of transparency, regulatory credibility, and the protection of public health, this should be properly investigated,” Kumudesh said.
The crux of the matter was that the very basis of NMRA’s suspension of Ondansetron batches seemed to be irregular and questionable, Kumudesh said.
The Academy of Health Professionals, in its letter to Dr. Jayatissa, sought the Health Ministry’s response to the following questions: 1. Who requested the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Hospital, Kandy, to conduct sterility testing on this medicinal product?
2. Under what legal provisions was such a request made, and on what basis was the laboratory authorised to accept and perform such testing?
3. Who conducted the test, and who issued the report? Did those individuals possess the requisite professional qualifications, regulatory authorisation, and legal mandate to do so?
4. Did the laboratory possess the required infrastructure, validated testing systems, quality assurance mechanisms, and specialised training necessary to perform pharmaceutical sterility testing in compliance with regulatory standards?
5. If patient complications were attributed to microbial contamination, were all related materials—including syringes, IV lines, infusion fluids, and other associated devices—systematically tested? If not, on what scientific basis was it concluded that the contamination originated exclusively from the medicine?
6. Given that the NMRA is legally empowered to suspend a medicine as a precautionary measure, even without laboratory confirmation, when serious safety concerns arise, what was the justification for relying on an irregular and non-regulatory laboratory test instead?
Kumudesh stressed that Ondansetron, and nine other injectable medicines that had been suspended, were all ordered by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) from an Indian manufacturer, Maan Pharmaceuticals.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Amidst the ongoing controversy over the suspension of several batches of Indian manufactured Ondansetron Injection USP 8 mg/4 mL (Batch Nos: OD24021E, OD25009E, OD25024E, OD25023E) over safety fears, Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa undertook a visit to New Delhi.
The Indian HC in Colombo said: ‘Dr. Jayatissa, the Minister of Health and Mass Media of the Government of Sri Lanka led a delegation to India from 17–19 December 2025 to participate in the 2nd WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The Summit was jointly organized by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India.
The Summit was held under the theme “Restoring Balance: The Science and Practice of Health and Well-Being” and aimed to advance a global movement focused on restoring balance for individuals and the planet through the scientific understanding and practice of traditional medicine.
During the Summit, the Minister participated in the Ministerial Roundtable and delivered his remarks, highlighting Sri Lanka’s perspectives and rich traditions in Ayurveda and traditional healing.
During the visit, the Minister held bilateral meetings with Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. Discussions focused on strengthening cooperation in healthcare and traditional medicine, including regulatory collaboration, research linkages, and capacity-building initiatives.
On the sidelines of the programme, Minister Jayatissa also visited Apollo Hospitals to gain insights into the implementation of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models and to explore best practices.
The visit reaffirmed the shared commitment of India and Sri Lanka to deepen collaboration in the fields of health and traditional medicine and to explore new avenues of partnership for the benefit of the people of both countries.’
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