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Updated February 20th, 2021 at 08:04 IST

Sri Lanka has become 'colony of China', ex-President berates PRC making inroads

Sri Lanka parties that scrapped the trilateral port deal with India were “mum” about “selling every asset of the nation to China”, Ex-Prez said in an interview.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Sri Lanka
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Former Sri Lankan President on Friday lambasted trade unions saying that Sri Lanka has become the 'colony of China' and those who opposed a recent deal with India (referring to the Colombo port terminal deal), are silent on China’s expanding footprint in the island nation. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in an interview to the privately-owned NewsFirst network, said that the Sri Lankan parties that scrapped the trilateral port deal with India, to develop the Colombo Port’s Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) earlier, were “mum” about “selling every asset of the nation to China”.

Her remarks followed Sri Lanka’s cancellation of a lease on oil storage tanks in the eastern port district of Trincomalee that was handed to India's biggest refiner state-controlled Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The island country alleged that it will “re-acquire 99 World War II-era oil storage tanks” leased to Indian Oil Corporation in the eastern port district of Trincomalee.  The announcement was made by the Sri Lankan energy minister Udaya Gammanpila, who scrapped the second deal with India.

In a press address at the Colombo’s north suburb of Kolonnawa, Gammanpila said that talks with the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo on the issue concluded last Sunday. He added “I am happy to state that the Indian High Commissioner ignored the conditions mentioned in the agreement signed in 2017 in order to be helpful to us”, PTI quoted. The Sri Lankan minister was referring to his talks with India’s High Commissioner Gopal Baglay. The scrapping of the deal attracted flak from Sri Lankan trade unions, left-leaning political parties, members of the clergy, and sections of the government, among many others. 

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"We didn't bow down to anybody. Those who are in charge must have an understanding of foreign policy and foreign relations," Kumaratunga said, according to PTI. "Today, for all intents and purposes, we are a colony of China," she added.

China making inroads in Sri Lanka

Further, urging the leaders to change the outlook to see the different caliber and not “openly mock” the very idea of foreign relations, the former leader said: “This is no way forward for this country. The people must change first. To change the people, the education system must be overhauled.” Further, she added, " We also need political leaders of a different caliber: young, educated, not given to corruption, people who do not treat politics as a business opportunity.” 

In recent years, China has been moving into areas in Sri Lanka where India previously had held a stronghold. Beijing’s projects, which had remained limited to the southern parts of the island nation, were now making inroads to the rubber, tea, and coconut plantations of central highlands, according to reports. China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co. Ltd. acquired a $300 million contracts to build 40,000 houses in the Jaffna district in the northern province and negotiated to invest $30-40 million in Sri Lanka’s plantation industry. 

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Published February 20th, 2021 at 08:03 IST

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