Neighborhood amity

Locations of the Maldives and Sri Lanka are critical for safeguarding the security of the sea lane of the Indian Ocean and energy resource transportation, according to Peking University's Jiang.

Xi's trip to the Maldives is seen as an epoch-making event in bilateral relations as it is the first time that a Chinese state head has visited the island nation in the Indian Ocean since the two established diplomatic relations 42 years ago. Actually, the two countries are enjoying increasingly close economic links. As the Chinese economy has grown rapidly in recent years and Chinese people have gotten wealthier, more and more Chinese tourists are choosing the Maldives as a major tourism destination. Statistics show that China has become the largest tourist resource country of the Maldives for four years in a row.

Observers noted that there is great potential for cooperation in fields such as the economy, trade and tourism between the two countries.

During Xi's visit, the two sides agreed to build a future-oriented all-round friendly and cooperative partnership, in an effort to upgrade bilateral ties and promote the wellbeing of the two peoples. In a joint communique signed by the two sides on September 15, China promised to help the Maldives develop its tourism sector and encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in related projects, as well as provide financial support to the country's infrastructure construction.

At present, China stands as the second largest trading partner and second largest source of imports of Sri Lanka. In 2013, trade between the two countries totaled $3.62 billion, up 14.3 percent year on year.

In their meeting in Colombo, Xi and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa underlined economy and trade, energy, agriculture, infrastructure construction and health as priorities of bilateral cooperation.

According to the Action Plan of China and Sri Lanka to Deepen the Strategic Cooperative Partnership signed during Xi's visit, the Chinese Government assures financing support for infrastructure and development projects agreed upon by both sides in Sri Lanka on preferential terms.

China and Sri Lanka also announced the formal launch of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. According to a memorandum on the negotiations, the FTA will cover trade of goods and services, investment and economic and technological cooperation.

Ye Hailin, a researcher of South Asian studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that after ending its three-decade-long civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka has a particularly urgent need for economic development and achieving industrialization. "The China-Sri Lanka FTA is of great help for Sri Lanka to recover its economy and will facilitate Chinese enterprises' entry in the market of Sri Lanka," Ye told Beijing Review.

Both the Maldives and Sri Lanka said that China's Maritime Silk Road initiative would bring their countries huge opportunities for development.

The Maritime Silk Road, by which the East-West trade flourished some 600 years ago, ran through the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean toward the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Southeast Asian countries and even as far as countries in the South Pacific, South Asia and East Africa. China has proposed to build a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to benefit the economies of countries along the route.

Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, speaker of the People's Majlis, the unicameral legislative body of the Maldives, said that China understands what the Maldives really needs on the path of development, and has been pushing ahead with some major projects and provided the island countries with invaluable support and assistance.

President Rajapaksa stressed that China's initiative echoes Sri Lanka's idea of building a maritime shipping center in the Indian Ocean.

Community of interests

In India, Xi mapped out China's future cooperation plan with South Asian countries. Xi pledged that China will work with regional countries to increase bilateral trade to $150 billion, raise its investment in South Asia to $30 billion and provide $20 billion in concessional loans to the region in the next five years. Moreover, China plans to offer 10,000 scholarships and training programs for 5,000 youths, and train 5,000 Chinese language teachers for South Asia in the next five years.

Observers said that all of the three South Asian countries Xi visited are pivot points of China's "One Belt and One Road" initiatives (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road). And through the "One Belt and One Road," China has established historic ties and interwoven contemporary interests with the three countries.

Fu with the CICIR said that China is establishing a community of interests with neighboring countries through its own influence and economic weight, which provides these countries with an opportunity to ride on the fast train of China's development to fulfill their own goals and will also promote the all-round cooperation with South Asia.

Besides the "One Belt and One Road" initiatives, China has also proposed the Bangladesh-China-India and Myanmar Economic Corridor as well as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. These initiatives envisage building major linkages of transport, energy and telecommunication networks in the region, encouraging road, rail, air and waterways connecting each other besides laying power transmission and oil pipelines. By expanding interconnection and deepening integration, it will promote the common development of the region and form a thriving economic belt.

According to Fu, the initiatives have provided platforms for regional cooperation that will also be conducive to advancing relations between China and South Asian countries.

By signing dozens of cooperative documents with these countries, Xi's latest trip has charted a fresh course for regional cooperation based on the initiatives, Fu added.

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