COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a two-day visit to Sri Lanka on Friday in an effort to regain influence and mend relations that have been strained by increased Chinese presence in India's neighborhood.
Modi became the first Indian leader to visit Sri Lanka in 28 years, on the last leg of a tour of Indian Ocean island states, which also included the Seychelles and Mauritius.
Relations between the two countries have been rocky for the past three decades largely due to an ethnic Tamil separatist rebellion. Sri Lankan Tamils have linguistic and family connections with the sizable Tamil population in India. Ties further deteriorated under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose pro-Chinese policies threatened India's say in the region.
Rajapaksa's election defeat in January at the hands of Maithripala Sirisena has reversed that trend, and Sirisena picked India for his first official visit overseas last month.
Sri Lanka has suspended the Chinese-funded $1.5 billion Colombo Port City project, citing environmental issues and alleged corruption. The development, which has become the face of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka, was inaugurated in September during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. He then included the island nation in a new maritime "Silk Road," which was seen as a way of encircling India and controlling sea lanes linking the energy-rich Persian Gulf with China.
Modi was welcomed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and received by Sirisena at his office in ceremonies that included gun salutes and a guard of honor.
Later Friday, Modi was scheduled to address the Parliament and visit the war-scarred Tamil heartland in the north to inaugurate a railway line rebuilt by India.