Page 60 - law prep tutorial gk compendium 2021.cdr

CLAT 2021 21 Year Experienced Team

Management Center (IU) at the Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM), Gandhinagar. It
serves the needs of all SAARC member states through policy advice, technical support on system
development, capacity building services and training for holistic management of disaster risk in the
SAARC region.
f Terrorism: India is fully aware of challenges in South Asia, with cross-border terrorism being the most
serious of those challenges.
f SAARC COVID19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX)' platform:

f India has developed a 'SAARC COVID19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX)' platform for use by
all SAARC countries to facilitate exchange of specialized information and tools on COVID-19 among
designated health professionals.

Chinese investment in Sri Lanka

About:

f Recently, Sri Lanka's Cabinet has approved the setting up of the tyre plant by Shandong Haohua Tire Co
Limited under legislation that allows generous tax concessions.

f Western nations, as well as regional power India, have long been concerned about Chinese influence in
Sri Lanka through projects under its gargantuan Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
f The factory will be adjacent to the Hambantota port, which was leased to a Chinese company in 2017
after Sri Lanka failed to service the $1.4-billion debt from Beijing, used to build it. Shandong Haohua
Tire Co Limited will export at least 80% of production, with the option of selling the rest on the local
market.
f The announcement came just weeks after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled the country's
2021 budget, banking on a huge Chinese real-estate development in Colombo to attract more
investment and revive the island's economy.
f The Colombo Port City — a $1.4 billion land reclamation project which started in 2014 — has almost
doubled the size of Sri Lanka's current financial district.
India's Strategic Concerns:
f India's stand-off with China in Ladakh and on its eastern border has only exacerbated its fears of
strategic encirclement by China in the IOR.
f New Delhi remains uneasy about China's influence in Sri Lanka and its presence in Hambantota port,
Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Kyaukphyu in Myanmar.

f The April 2019 terror attacks in Colombo added to New Delhi fears of a rise in Islamic extremist militancy
in Sri Lanka since any spill over would almost inevitably jeopardise its own national security. India
viewed the attacks as the result of repressive measures enacted on a minority of the Sri Lankan
population.

f India endeavours, therefore, to attain socio-economic influence in a politically stable and prosperous Sri
Lanka that abstains from human rights violations and respects all its communities.
f Balancing India: Prime Minister Rajapaksa has stated, however, that relations with India will not suffer,
since his country cannot afford to become a proxy battleground between the two major Asian powers in
their quest for influence in the Indian Ocean region.

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