China’s rapid economic rise is prompting admiration and open questioning of democracy in smaller states such as Sri Lanka, where business and political figures cite short electoral cycles as obstacles to long-term transformation and point to China and Singapore as alternative models.

Despite its stated non-interference policy, Beijing actively intervenes when its core interests are at stake—pressuring Nepal to cancel a Tibetan studies conference and limiting Dalai Lama-related activities—while selectively ignoring other separatist or political movements that do not threaten it.

The result is a quiet challenge to liberal democratic norms: economic partnership with China offers development opportunities but risks eroding independent decision-making and democratic values in countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal.

China today represents not only a strategic challenge to the US-led, rules based international order but also a profound test for democracy itself. For many smaller nations, Beijing’s rapid transformation from poverty to sustained economic growth has become a source of admiration. The danger, however, lies in this economic respect evolving into an endorsement of China’s governance model. In this sense, China stands as both a “near peer” competitor to the United States and a rival to the Westernled democratic ecosystem.

Sri Lanka once openly expressed interest in adopting governance lessons from China during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure — a telling indication of how Beijing’s influence extends beyond economics. Even within Sri Lanka’s business community, debates over governance mirror the political divisions shaping the nation’s future.

At a panel hosted by the Sri Lanka–Korea Business Council, Aroshi Nanayakkara — CEO of a global consulting firm and former chairperson of the Sri Lanka Institute of........

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