Hacker News Reader

Comment by pravinva | Hacker News Reader

The slippery slope towards empire for the east India company didn't start by protecting dams and dredging or performing economic activities. It began by superior ammunition and military services that they provided to the various kings and nawabs who were warring with each other.taking sides, and extracting political power in return. Equity ownership means nothing if it's a business that has zero market value. Political power OTOH is what leverage is all about. Arm's exporters have more leverage than ownership in useless ports or airports.

View on HN

I wouldn't call it a slippery slope so much as events precipitating the situation. The revolt in 1857 led to the dissolution of the East India Company and a formal takeover of India by the British government [1]. The British Raj lasted almost a century and could have lasted longer had the British Army and economy not been so weakened by WWII.

It will be interesting to see what happens should a country attempt to seize Chinese assets en masse. The PRC is not known for its lack of ability in the Great Game. We are still decades away from the circumstances that allowed for decolonisation movements in the mid-20th century to be successful.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_India_Act_1858

Things could be more similar to what happened with US investments in South America. See for example what happened in Chile when Allende nationalized US owned copper mines...

Chinese equity stake in the airport and port will likely result in significant Chinese operation of those ports.

And surely, that's got to have India thinking a little bit - it means that the PLAAF/PLAN now have a potential forward operating base literally in their backyard.

And if China can continue to assert leverage on Sri Lanka, then they might even be able to forward base onto Sri Lanka itself without official argument from Sri Lanka.

I mean, I doubt it, but it seems like a viable play.

How do you see China countering India's cultural hegemony in the region? Much of the culture in the Indian sub-continent is borrowed from Indian culture.

Shouldn't this be some insulation from Chinese influence?

Loans and sanctions. China helped SriLanka in UN when human rights issues came up. Also India's cultural influence is not an answer to everything. It has limited influence. Myanmar for example evicted Indians forcefully in 60's. Bangladesh and Nepal are trying to balance China and India influence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_Indians

All influence is economic. Weapons and ammunition and soldiers cost money. China`s influence in the underdeveloped world over strategic raw materials should be of great concern to developed world strategic planners. Rare earth metals are a commonly cited example.

Not at all.a few years ago, the Chinese monopoly over so called rare earths threatened to increase prices of all electronics. But it took barely 2 years for new mines to be opened outside China profitably and the monopoly was broken. Ammunition is very rarely a market demand. It's dealt by govt bureaucracy and shady arms brokers. I.e nothing to do with economic activity. War is always a political act.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com