Sri Lanka: Debt, Development, and Democracy? Journalist Uditha Jayasinghe on the State of Sri Lanka's Political and Economic Landscape

The Burn Bag Podcast is launching a limited miniseries entitled "Sri Lanka: Debt, Development, and Democracy?" The series will explore Sri Lanka's geopolitical position and developmental goals, in order to showcase how smaller countries can highlight U.S. foreign policy lapses amidst heightened U.S.-China competition, and will feature interviews with several key players from the Sri Lankan political landscape and Sri Lankan-based experts who will contextualize the country's story for us.

In our first installment, A'ndre speaks with Uditha Jayasinghe, a veteran journalist who most recently worked as Deputy Editor of the Daily Financial Times, to provide an overview of Sri Lanka's political and economic landscape since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. Uditha delivers a background on some of the key players in Sri Lanka's political landscape, which includes profiles on the two brothers who currently govern the country, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, among others. We then contextualize Sri Lanka's developmental goals since the end of Civil War in 2009 and how the Sri Lanka-China relationship has unfolded over the past decade, including Sri Lanka's strategic importance for China's Belt and Road Initiative. Uditha provides her take on why China has succeeded in pulling Sri Lanka closer to its sphere, and answers questions on the state of Sri Lanka's debt to China, and how it relates to the debt it owes to other foreign entities.