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India and the United States lack the “political warfare” strategy that China has employed in many Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nations. This article examines the occurrences of political warfare in Sri Lanka and Maldives, the two BRI nations, but focusing the discussion on China’s influence in Sri Lanka in five domains. In Sri Lanka, the president has shifted towards a pro-China foreign policy, while in the Maldives, a pro-China regime was installed. Amid the competing environment, despite counter-BRI strategies by India and the West through infrastructure investment, they have not been able to ward off China’s expansion through “political warfare”. This article also explores why political warfare is integral to the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy and the strategic benefits it gains from the strategy.
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera (Sat,) studied this question.