xi jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his desire to expand cooperation with the island nation through his Belt and Road Infrastructure Plan (BRI) as he welcomed Sri Lanka’s new leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka,
Dissanayaka, a self-proclaimed Marxist, took his oath on Monday at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, promising to restore public trust in politics.
“I attach great importance to the development of China-Sri Lanka relations and am willing to work with Mr. President to continue our traditional friendship (and) enhance mutual political trust,” Xi wrote in a message to Dissanayaka, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
According to CCTV, Xi expressed hope that bilateral collaboration under his centerpiece BRI would “bear more fruit”.
He additionally stated that Beijing would “promote the steady progress of sincere mutual assistance between China and Sri Lanka as well as our age-old strategic cooperative partnership, and create more benefits for the peoples of both countries”.
Western critics accuse China of exploiting the BRI to ensnare developing countries in unsustainable debt in order to gain diplomatic influence or grab their assets.
However, a chorus of leaders, as well as research from top global think tanks such as London’s Chatham House, have challenged the “debt trap” hypothesis.
In December 2017, unable to repay a large Chinese debt, Sri Lanka gave over its Hambantota port in the south of the island to a Beijing corporation on a 99-year lease for $1.12 billion.
The country also defaulted on its external borrowings in 2022, during a crisis that resulted in months of food, gasoline, and medication shortages.
China is Sri Lanka’s top bilateral creditor, with loans totaling $4.66 billion of the $10.58 billion borrowed from other nations.
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