COLOMBO'S CHINA CONUNDRUM

New Sri Lankan govt's approach to Beijing set to be 'balanced and practical': Analysts

- Rohini Mohan

COLOMBO - Three Sri Lankan men arranged five types of soya sauce on the shelves of a new Chinese supermarket in Astoria mall on R.A. De Mel Mawatha, a busy road lined with upmarket shops and popular eateries in Colombo, while Ms Mary Song Fang jotted down the inventory in Chinese characters in her notebook.

With the help of her local translator-cum-shop manager, Ms Song instructed the staff to display a bottle of golden-brown light soya sauce with bags of jasmine rice in the store front, to attract Chinese regulars and a growing number of Sri Lankan customers.

The 43-year-old woman from Guangzhou, capital city of southern China's Guangdong province, set off alone for Sri Lanka's capital city 10 years ago to expand her family's gems business. But after the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, followed by Sri Lanka declaring bankruptcy in 2022, she switched trades, running a hair salon before moving on to sell Chinese groceries.

"Food is always in demand, whoever (is in) government, whatever the season," said Ms Song, whose parents and sister joined her in Colombo in 2023, opening an Asian noodles and boba tea shop next door.

The Chinese family's fortunes mirror Sri Lanka's ties with China. Sri Lanka leaned towards China during the heyday of politician-brothers Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015, while his younger brother Gotabaya was president from 2019 until his resignation in July 2022.

The Songs came with a wave of Chinese families moving to the South Asian island nation in the last 15 years, as the Sri Lankan government under the Rajapaksas signed deals for dozens of Chinese infrastructure projects in the country.