India relieved as China’s foray into North Sri Lanka is stalled

New Delhi, Oct 21: In what could be considered as a major victory for India, Sri Lanka has stalled a bid by China to enhance its presence in the Northern Province. Several projects funded by India are being undertaken in this province.

Sri Lanka reversed its earlier decision to allow the Beijing based China Railway Engineering Group Company Limited to build 40,000 houses in the provide with a loan of USD 300 minion from export-Import Bank of China. It has now been decided that most of the houses would be built by an Indian company in partnership with two Sri Lankan countries.

New Delhi had expressed concern over China's bid to expand its foray into the nation's Tamil majority Northern and Eastern province. India had said that this area not only shares a historical and cultural bond with India, but is also linked to its key security interests.

The move by Sri Lanka came just before its Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe landed in New Delhi on Thursday on a three day visit. He has been having several run-ins with President, Mathripala Sirisena over India's offer of support for infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka. While Wickremesinghe has been arguing in favour of India, Sirisena is not keen on an Indian role in the development of the Colombo port.

In this backdrop there were media reports suggesting that during a recent Cabinet meeting, Sirisena had said that India's external agency, Research and Analysis Wing had plotted his assassination. This was immediately dismissed by the Sri Lankan government. Sirisena had even called Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and termed the reports as baseless.