Sri Lankan Army Commander and accused war criminal Shavendra Silva hosted a digital trilateral meeting on security with the deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) of India Pankaj Saran and the Secretary to the NSA of Maldives Aishath Nooshin Waheed.

The virtual meeting focussed on strengthening cooperation on four dimensions of security; covering areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cybersecurity. 

This meeting follows the visits made by India’s NSA Ajit Doval to Sri Lanka and Maldives late last year during which he met with Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne in Colombo and Defence Minister Mariya Didi in Malé.

In 2011,  Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa launched the “Colombo Security Conclave” among the three countries as a Defence Secretary in order to deepen cooperation in maritime security. 

However, in recent years, India has been concerned about expanding Chinese influence in Sri Lanka. India’s fears were heightened when Colombo withdrew from the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port and engaged with China to establish three renewable energy projects in outlying islands off the Jaffna peninsula.

Concerns were further raised when Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary and accused war criminal, Jayanath Colombage, expressed concern over the US-backed Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Alliance (QUAD). QUAD is an informal forum between the US, Japan, Australia, and India which conducts semi-regular summits, information exchanges and conducts military drills with member countries.

In his remarks Colombage stated:

“Do we really need a QUAD? Will QUAD not give rise – not to a cold war – but at least a cool war in the Indian ocean?”

Read more here: 'We don’t want to be caught up in this power game', Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary expresses concerns over Quad military alliance

Read more here.