The Sri Lankan government has pledged USD 1 million in humanitarian assistance to Myanmar in the wake of a devastating earthquake, a move it says is driven by the “close ties between the two nations as two Buddhist states,” according to Cabinet spokesperson and Minister Nalinda Jayatissa.
The donation will include dry rations collected under the “guidance” of Sinhala Buddhist monks, after the Ambassador of Myanmar in Sri Lanka met with senior Buddhist clergy in Kandy. A medical team from Sri Lanka also remains on standby for deployment.
Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra met his Myanmar counterpart U Than Swe in Bangkok, where he reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s support for the junta-led state. “We held a constructive discussion on strengthening our bilateral ties, with a focus on Buddhist cultural diplomacy,” he said.
In addition to government-level assistance, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, one of Sri Lanka’s most revered Buddhist sites, donated Rs. 15 million to Myanmar. The handover ceremony was presided over by the Mahanayake Theros of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters, who gathered for a pirith chanting ceremony.
Myanmar and Sri Lanka have shared close Buddhist ties, particularly when it comes to Buddhist nationalist extremism.
In Myanmar, the hardline nationalist group MaBaTha (The Patriotic Association of Myanmar) has played a prominent role in promoting Islamophobia and supporting the military’s brutal campaign against the Rohingya, which the United Nations has described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
In Sri Lanka, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist group, has similarly targeted Muslim communities, incited violence, and called for policies favouring a Buddhist supremacist state. BBS leader Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara has previously travelled to Myanmar and openly praised MaBaTha’s anti-Muslim agenda.
The links between the two groups were further reinforced in 2014, when BBS and MaBaTha leaders met in Myanmar to strategise about the global “threat” posed by Islam. These meetings were widely condemned by rights organisations.
The Buddhist nationalist nexus has also served as a platform for geopolitical and ideological cooperation. Both Myanmar and Sri Lanka have invoked their Theravāda Buddhist heritage in diplomatic rhetoric, while their respective military-led or military-aligned governments have sought to consolidate control using majoritarian religious identity as a political tool.
Myanmar’s junta continues to be accused of war crimes, including genocide against the Rohingya, while Sri Lanka remains under international scrutiny for its failure to deliver accountability for mass atrocities committed during the genocide of Tamils.
Minister Jayatissa’s description of Sri Lanka as a “Buddhist state” further highlights how the current Sri Lankan government is leaning into a Sinhala nationalist policy.