India spent $52.96 million to be a buyer of last resort, claiming it can counter China's influence, and ended up with such a trivial result

According to reports from The Times of India and Sri Lankan Daily Mirror, the Indian state-owned shipbuilding giant Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) recently announced that it will acquire at least 51% of the shares of Colombo Dockyard Limited (CDPLC), Sri Lanka's largest shipyard, for about $52.96 million, becoming the controlling shareholder.

This is MDL's first overseas acquisition, and also an important "strategic investment" declared by the Indian government.

Indian media comment that this move not only enhances India's presence in the Indian Ocean, but also offsets China's influence in Sri Lanka.

However, looking at the actual influence of India and China in the region, this so-called victory seems rather forced, even ridiculous.

In fact, India is just a buyer of last resort. Sri Lanka's economy has collapsed, and Colombo Dockyard has been continuously losing money for years. The original Japanese major shareholder, Maizuru Shipbuilding, chose to withdraw, leaving behind a mess that urgently needs funds and technology.

Note that it's not just about money, but also technology.

That's convenient, because India probably thought that it doesn't have any advanced technology, and it's just taking over the company, expecting you to provide the technology.

Therefore, India was able to take control of the equity for less than $53 million.

After taking over, India claimed internally that it had opened up a new shipbuilding base in South Asia, while externally promoting the geopolitical significance of "containing China's influence".

However, this narrative is post-hoc packaging, because this is a typical "filling hole" acquisition, so self-encouragement and self-affirmation are needed, making the whole country believe that the money was not wasted, and even that it was very cost-effective, spending more than $50 million to counter China, just say whether it's impressive or not.

But the problem is that over the past decade, China has already completed truly meaningful port construction, infrastructure penetration, and financial influence layout in Sri Lanka, such as Hambantota Port, Colombo Port City, and direct investments in multiple fields including power, roads, and telecommunications.

Compared to this, the CDPLC that India acquired is just a repair shipyard that has been continuously losing money and needs restructuring, which does not control the port area, lacks logistics transfer capabilities, and certainly cannot be considered a regional hub. It is too optimistic for India to think that buying it would allow it to rival China.

Even more shocking is India's strategic inflation in public opinion.

Purchasing shares that others don't want and then concluding that it can counter China, this behavior can only be described as a typical case of strategic self-delusion. From the cost, capability to the geo-strategic structure, India's move can hardly be considered a countermeasure, it's completely self-entertainment.

In summary, India's high-profile acquisition of Colombo Dockyard is more for meeting the internal need for a national strength narrative, rather than truly having the ability to compete for regional discourse power with China.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836411106699338/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.