K. A. VILNIN Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Keywords: Sri Lanka, China, interethnic armed conflict, Indian Ocean, South Asia, "String of Pearls" Modern history of Sri Lanka (pre-1972-Ceylon) It is largely characterized by a complex relationship between the main ethnic groups inhabiting the island - Sinhalese and Tamils*. The prerequisites for their protracted hostility began to form even in the colonial period, under the British. After independence in 1948, the Sinhalese nationalists who came to power built their policies, often ignoring the interests of the Tamil population. The rights of Tamils were violated in matters of governing the country, working in State bodies, serving in the army, in education, and using the Tamil language, which caused dissatisfaction on their part. Eventually, in 1983, the Sinhalo-Tamil conflict took the form of an armed struggle between the Government and Tamil separatists, who were fighting for the establishment of an independent state in the north and east of the island. The inter-ethnic armed conflict, which claimed, according to some sources, up to 100 thousand human lives, ended in 2009 with the complete defeat of the Tamil separatists.1 China made a significant contribution to the final victory of the Sri Lankan government over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE - the main Tamil militant group), although it was not directly involved in the fighting. CHINA'S ROLE IN ETHNIC CONFLICT From the late 1970s, even before the outbreak of the armed conflict, the then President of Sri Lanka, Junius Richard Jayawardane (1978-1989), set out to diversify the country's international relations by moving closer to non-regional powers, including China. With the outbreak of hostilities, the Sri Lankan government, unlike India, which sought a peaceful settlement of the armed confrontation, was more interested in a military solution to the conflict. Jayawardane, hoping to gain the support of ot ... Read more