India plans power project in Sri Lanka after China's shelved

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — India has signed an agreement to set up hybrid power projects on northern Sri Lankan islands in a deal seen as a strategic victory in its competition with China for influence in the Indian Ocean.

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is in Colombo for bilateral meetings, witnessed the signing, along with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Peiris, the Indian embassy said late Monday.

In December, China announced its own project to build power plants on three Sri Lankan islands was suspended due to security concerns involving a “third party.”

An Indian official said he couldn’t confirm if the plants in the new agreement are to be built on the same islands earmarked for the Chinese project. The power source and other details on the projects weren't available.

India considers Sri Lanka, just across the narrow Palk Strait off India's southeastern coast, to be in it sphere of influence, while the island nation in the middle of a key sea route connecting the east and west, also is important to China’s ambitious “One Belt One Road” global infrastructure initiative.

“It is kind of substantial victory for India,” said Lynn Ockersz a senior journalist and foreign relations analyst in Sri Lanka.

“Overall it will be in a great position to influence Sri Lanka when it comes to policy issues affecting India,” he said.

Had the Chinese power plant project been realized, it would have placed China next to India’s southern coast. India and China already have running border disputes in other regions.

Jaishankar is also taking part in the BIMSTEC summit, a meeting of Bay of Bengal nations Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand for economic cooperation.

The other agreements India signed include providing a...