Page 95 - RASAS 2025

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10 Ruhuna Arts Student’s Annual Sessions (RASAS) -2025

The Indo-Pacific Strategy: Implications for Regional Power Dynamics and Sri
Lanka's Strategic Position

A.D.I. Geethma
Department of Public Policy, University of Ruhuna
irushigeethma@gmail.com
ABSTRACT

The Indo-Pacific region and the South China Sea are two competitive strategic regions in contemporary politics
and geopolitics. Such regions not only affect global maritime trade and security but also affect the strategic
positioning of small states like Sri Lanka. Major power alliances have undergone a new geopolitical shift

centered on the Indo-Pacific region. Strategies such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the USA’s Free
and Open Indo-Pacific security have diplomatic implications for Sri Lanka. Although the existing literature on
Indo-Pacific geopolitics examines the interests and competition among major powers, limited research has

been done on how these influence the strategic choices and risks of small states. This presents a significant
research gap, considering how small states handle these dynamics, the economic consequences of small-state

dependence, and the need for studies on alternative economic models to reduce dependence on major powers.
The research question is: How does the implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy by major global powers
affect Sri Lanka’s strategic positions, and what policy steps can Sri Lanka adopt to navigate these regional

power dynamics while protecting national interests? The ontology here is that Sri Lanka’s strategic location is
not seen as an inherent truth, but rather as a socially constructed and negotiated reality shaped through

interactions with major powers. This is a qualitative study. Data were collected using primary and secondary
sources. For the primary data, a sample of 15 participants was selected under snowball sampling for semi-
structured interviews, including lecturers, scholars, and researchers. Documents and existing literature were

used as secondary data. Thematic analysis and explanatory document analysis were used for data analysis. The
findings confirm that Sri Lanka’s strategic value is socially constructed and shaped by its reliance on port
transactions and credit, such as with Hambantota. While sovereignty risks arise in some cases, adaptive

multilateralism, public-private partnerships, and non-aligned diplomacy demonstrate the potential of a
maritime hub, providing resilience against Indo-Pacific power pressures. In conclusion, Sri Lanka must
formulate flexible, cohesive, and non-aligned economic and security policies to protect its national interests

and sovereignty, and to safeguard economic and diplomatic goodwill.

Keywords: Indo-Pacific Region, South China Sea, Geopolitics, Major Powers, Power Dynamics, Small-
States, Strategy.

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