Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy

Factum Special Perspective: Tempting Escalation – After Operation Sindoor

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional Geopolitics10 hours ago73Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya With India and Pakistan baying for each other’s blood and the media in both countries, and particularly in India, beating war drums, it would be futile to expect a lessening of tensions overnight. The problem is that this is not the world of 2016 or 2019: when disputes between the two countries…

Factum Perspective: Decolonisation Delayed – The Ongoing Struggle for the Chagos Islands

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, History and Culture, Maritime Security, Regional GeopoliticsMarch 30, 2025388Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Hannes Romare Exclusive to Factum from EPIS Thinktank on Foreign and Security Policy The Chagos Islands, or The British Indian Ocean Territory? Is the Chagos archipelago a part of Mauritius or does it belong to the United Kingdom? These questions will soon get a definite answer as a deal on the status of the…

Factum Perspective: Sri Lanka Foreign Policy 2025 – Laying Low and Continuing the Balancing Act

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, International DevelopmentFebruary 16, 2025871Views 1Like 0Comments

By Sachintha Pilapitiya Sri Lanka has often stressed its principle of "friendship towards all, enmity towards none" in its diplomacy. In 2024, under two ideologically contrasting governments, Sri Lanka reflected the possibility of maintaining this foreign policy goal intact. In this article, I conduct a short review of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy in 2024, followed…

Factum Special Perspective: China’s role in global transformation

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, History and Culture, International Development, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsDecember 24, 2024463Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vinod Moonesinghe We bear witness to a period of accelerated global transformation, with the rise of the East and the relative decline of the West reshaping the global political and economic landscape, benefitting the Global South. China, whose rapid economic growth and expanding influence play a pivotal role in this new era of global…

Factum Perspective: The Indo-Canada spat

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsSeptember 30, 2023663Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Aavin Abeydeera In September this year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the Canadian House of Commons. His speech included statements that went on to spark one of the most consequential diplomatic crises in the world today. Trudeau essentially accused Indian intelligence of being behind the assassination of one Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a…

Factum Perspective: The President in New York

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsSeptember 23, 2023855Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya The last week has been very busy for President Ranil Wickremesinghe. First he travelled to Cuba, in time for the G77 Plus China Heads of State Summit in Havana from September 15 to 16. Largely dismissed by the Western press, the Summit saw the participation of delegations from more than a…

Factum Perspective: The BRICS, SCO, and the emerging Multipolar order

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Regional GeopoliticsSeptember 8, 2023680Views 1Like 0Comments

By Shakthi de Silva Of late, headlines have been dominated by news of the BRICS deciding, at its 15th Summit in Johannesburg, to add six new members from 2024. The news should not necessarily come as a surprise, as the original members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, agreed during the 14th BRICS…

Factum Special Perspective: Sri Lanka’s trilemma

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 26, 2023634Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya Sri Lanka’s future lies in its ability to balance the three great powers in – and not of – the Indian Ocean: India, China, and the US, and in that order. Its dilemma has something to do with it being a small state, but more importantly with it being a small state…

Factum Perspective: Ranil Wickremesinghe’s mission to New Delhi

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 16, 2023601Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya On July 2 and 3, Factum held its first Ambassadors’ Day at the Kataragama Esala Perahera. The event was attended by the Bangladeshi High Commissioner and the First Secretary to the Maldivian High Commission on the first day, and the Thai Ambassador on the second, which coincided with the final night of…

Factum Perspective: Modi in the White House – The role of China in Indo-US relations

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 9, 2023556Views 0Likes 0Comments

By P. K. Balachandran China’s aggressive posturing on the Sino-Indian border, its support to Pakistan-based anti-Indian Islamic terrorists, and its bid to encircle India in South Asia, are key factors pushing India into the waiting arms of the United States. But India is not entirely comfortable in the American embrace. And the reason, again, is…

Factum Special Perspective: Taiwan as a tool in the Indo-Pacific

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsMay 10, 2023996Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya During a recent conference at the Milken Institute, US Congressman Seth Moulton contended that if the Chinese army invaded Taiwan, the US should not hesitate to blow up Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Moulton’s remarks were immediately noted by Taiwanese authorities. On Monday, May 8, the country’s Minister of National…

Factum Perspective: Rethinking US-Sri Lanka ties

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, History and Culture, Regional GeopoliticsApril 24, 2023773Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Uditha Devapriya During a visit to Sri Lanka on December 14, 2015, then US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Designate Thomas Shannon announced the launch of the first US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue. The Dialogue, held in February the following year at Washington , sought to enhance cooperation between the two…