China’s outsized role in two key South Asian debt crises (Sri Lanka and Pakistan) and its fractious cross-border relationship with India have overshadowed a larger trend: Beijing is increasingly becoming an adept navigator of South Asian complexities in order to grow its own influence in the region.
This is the finding of a fascinating set of reports on Chinese messaging and influence-building in smaller South Asian states, especially Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, published by the Indian think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress.