Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People
Chinese President Xi Jinping moved to boost China’s influence over Sri Lanka to counter the island nation’s shift toward India under President Maithripala Sirisena.
Xi signed four agreements with Sirisena on the Sri Lankan leader’s first trip to China since winning elections in January. The pacts include cooperation on health and urban development.
“We will continue to make efforts toward building the relationship toward a new era,” Xi said at a joint briefing with Sirisena in Beijing yesterday.
While his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa courted Chinese investment during his decade-
long rule, Sirisena has promoted ties with the government in New Dehli. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – on the first visit to the island by an Indian leader since the 1980s – agreed this month to shore up financial ties and build up infrastructure to counter China’s sway.
“China still plays an important role in the Sri Lankan economy as a source of capital and construction and operational expertise,” Sasha Riser-Kositsky, Asia Associate at Eurasia Group, said by e-mail. Sirisena will try to “communicate that Sri Lanka is not turning its back on China but that it is simply rebalancing its relations to a more even keel vis-a-vis India, and, to a lesser extent, the West,”
The Chinese and Sri Lankan leaders were expected to discuss Colombo Port City, a USD1.4 billion Chinese-funded city planned to be built on reclaimed land, the island’s finance minister said in Colombo earlier this week. Rajapaksa and Xi last year signed an agreement for talks on a bilateral free trade agreement.
During Modi’s visit, the central banks of India and Sri Lanka agreed to a $1.5 billion currency swap, mirroring a deal Xi reached with Rajapaksa last year.
Sirisena, who visited New Delhi in February on his first overseas tour, has suspended the Colombo Port City plan pending a review into whether the project was being implemented with relevant approvals.
China has emerged over the past decade as Sri Lanka’s second-largest trading partner behind India. China has also invested heavily in Sri Lanka infrastructure projects and supported Rajapaksa in the face of a U.S.-led inquiry into human rights abuses allegedly committed during the end of the island’s 26-year civil war.
Modi is seeking to prevent China from establishing a military foothold in a region his nation has dominated for decades. He’s called for a “climate of trust,” in ensuring the security and prosperity of the Indian Ocean region.
India, which has a large Tamil population, will also support Sri Lanka’s efforts to find equitable peace within a united country, Modi said.
Chinese submarines docked twice in Sri Lanka last year, triggering protests from India and fueling doubts that China’s strategy of building ports in the region was purely economic.
“China has always placed Sri Lanka in an important diplomatic position in region,” Xi said yesterday. “I believe during this visit, we will again promote and elevate the China-Sri Lanka relationship to fulfill an important purpose.” Anusha Ondaatjie, Bloomberg
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