The Rajapaksas’ return to power in Sri Lanka is a reminder of China Inc’s unfortunate geopolitical miscalculations in south and south-east Asia.
During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 10-year presidency from 2005 to 2015, some of China’s biggest state-owned enterprises rushed to secure large construction contracts that Sri Lanka ultimately could not afford. This caused Beijing much embarrassment after Mr Rajapaksa’s political opponents unexpectedly defeated him at the polls five years ago, and then began either to scale back many of those projects or renegotiate the Chinese state financing that underpinned them.
Mr Rajapaksa is now riding high again as prime minister, after his brother and former defence minister, Gotabaya, last month won the presidency back for Sri Lanka’s most powerful clan. However, Gotabaya Rajapaksa indicated on his first overseas visit as president — tellingly to India — that he would not be rushing back into China’s economic embrace.