'India shouldn't view its relationship with Lanka as bilateral contest with China', says Saran

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran has said that India should not look upon its relationship with Sri Lanka or with any other country in South Asia as a 'zero-sum game' between New Delhi and Beijing.

"We should not look upon our relationship with Sri Lanka or with any other country in the region as somehow a zero-sum game between India and China. I do not accept that," he told ANI on the sidelines of an event organized at the India International Centre (IIC) here on Saturday.

"I don't think we should look at a bilateral contest between India and China. There is a very strong relationship that India has with Sri Lanka. And it is the people of Sri Lanka who have chosen a new government. So, we dealt with the previous government and we are dealing with the government which has come in," he said.

He also added that India's position remains unchanged on the issue of 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka's Constitution on devolution of power to achieve reconciliation with the minority Tamil community in the north and east of the island nation.

"India's consistent position has been that unless you find a means of reconciliation between the Tamil population in North and Eastern Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan state, it would not be good for Sri Lanka's own political stability and for its future. I do not believe this particular position that India has taken consistently has changed," he said.

"So, just as it was something that was put forward to the previous Sri Lankan Government...... the same sentiment that will be expressed to the current government," he added.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will arrive here on Sunday on a four-day official trip to India.

The Lankan President will during his visit hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two sides are expected to sign some agreements in the field of culture, people-to-people contact and agriculture.