China not a friend of Sri Lanka !

The political observers add China has never been a true friend of Sri Lanka. At best, Beijing might have been close to certain specific Sri Lankan leaders, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In a recent speech in the Sri Lankan parliament¸ National Alliance (TNA) legislator Shanakiyan Rasamanickam has criticised Beijing for not really helping the crisis-hit island nation.

Observers say the Rasamanickam criticism of China makes a lot of sense. In the recent years, Sri Lanka has been in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis with acute shortages of essentials like fuel, medicine, and cooking gas due to a severe foreign currency dearth. The island nation has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for this year. The country's total foreign debt amounts to more than $51 billion. Of this, over $28 billion is to be repaid by 2028.

Colombo today needs the International Monetary Fund aid. Under a preliminary agreement, the I M F is to provide Sri Lanka $2.9 billion over four years to help it salvage from its worst economic crisis. The package is contingent on approval from the IMF management and executive board, as well as on receiving assurances from Sri Lanka's creditors, including China, India and Japan, that debt sustainability will be restored.

Currently, Sri Lanka owes nearly a fifth of its public external debt to China. China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor. Sri Lanka owes China over $ 7.4 billion. The latter is a nearly 20-trillion dollar economy. It can well afford write off this debt or restructure it.

China is a major shareholder of IMF. China can encourage IMF and other international financial institutes to promptly support Sri Lanka. But so far, Chinese financial institutions have not reached out to the Sri Lankan side to handle the matured debts related to China .

Moreover, China has not been a good lender. During 2008-2021, the effective interest rate on overall Chinese lending averaged 3.2 per cent higher than the average rates (0.9%-1.6%) on the World Bank and ADB loans to Sri Lanka.

The observers add China has never been a true friend of Sri Lanka. At best, Beijing might have been close to certain specific Sri Lankan leaders, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Chinese have done little positive in Sri Lanka . China has taken over the Hambantota Port it built in Sri Lanka.

Also, it is in the interest of democracy and rights that Colombo keeps distance from Beijing. Communist China knows no democracy and rights. It suppresses its minorities, including Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims. Sri Lanka must avoid the company of such an undemocratic country.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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