Impact of Soft power usage by China and India in South Asia: case of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The concept of soft power instead of practicing hard power in international relations has become extremely popular in the contemporary global politics. In the twenty first century China is being on the spot light of the international politics in terms of its unique practice of power. Current relationship with Sri Lanka is a good example in the case of spreading Chines influence in the region through means of soft power. On the other hand China‟s strategically presence in the south Asian region has created security dilemmas to India by giving signals of a serious threat to its traditional stance being used towards its neighborhood. In the Sri Lankan point of view it has also become a serious challenge to the Sri Lankan government by moving on to a new pro Chinese policy from the diversified policy which had been followed for years. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to assess the domestic, regional and international impacts of soft power usage by China and India in Sri Lanka and to examine how far do China and India successful in soft power game strategies in Sri Lanka. The other objectives are the identification of the strategies used by China and India in order to influence Sri Lanka by means of soft power, determination of the nature of the triangular relationship among China, India and Sri Lanka and evaluation of the domestic, regional and international impacts of soft power usage by China and India in Sri Lanka. A content analysis method, using secondary data based on a review of existing literature on the issue and appropriate theories are used to achieve the obave objectives. Thus the findings of this study will benefit in developing new area of knowledge which will help the policy makers to drive their countries towards directions which will ensure their power status. Further researcher would hope that this study will encourage other researchers to explore more insights of soft power resources.