India, anxious to counter China's influence in the region, on Friday offered hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Sri Lanka as the island's new president made his maiden overseas trip in New Delhi.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa's visit to
India just 12 days after he became president is being intensely watched as New Delhi and
Beijing compete to control the Indian Ocean and its strategic sea routes.
Sri Lanka has been traditionally been allied to India but
China invested and loaned billions of dollars to the island nation during the decade-long reign of Rajapaksa's elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa.