Colombo Port.
The Sri Lankan government was recently rumored to have withdrawn from the Colombo Port East container terminal development plan with India and Japan under the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. India is in talks with Sri Lanka on the matter and the importance of fulfilling international commitments, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.
Sri Lanka celebrated its 73rd Independence Day yesterday, but more attention was paid to the development of the Colombo Port East container terminal, which involves China, India and Japan competing for influence in the South Asian country.
Sri Lankan media reported that under the continuous opposition of 23 port unions in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government decided on the 2nd to withdraw from the Colombo Port East container terminal development plan in cooperation with India’s Adani Group and Japan, and intended to invest 800 million U.S. dollars to develop it alone, but to develop the West container terminal in cooperation with India and Japan.
However, Indian media News18 cited reliable sources that the Chinese Communist Party is the driving force behind the Sri Lankan government’s decision to develop the Colombo Port East container terminal alone.
The report said that the Chinese Communist Party exerted great pressure on the Rajapaksa brothers, who are the president and prime minister of Sri Lanka respectively, to withdraw from the development of the Colombo Port East container terminal in cooperation with India and Japan in order to oppose the two traditional rivals, India and Japan.
In addition, the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka has also sponsored and encouraged more than 20 local port unions to demonstrate against Sri Lanka’s plan to develop the Colombo Port East container terminal in cooperation with India and Japan.
As Sri Lanka was unable to repay its huge debt to China, China Merchants Group was allowed to acquire the 99-year operating rights of Hambantota Port, one of the world’s busiest ports, in 2017 in lieu of debt repayment; however, under the consideration of balancing China’s strong influence, Sri Lanka has partnered with India and Japan to develop the terminal at Colombo Port, causing concern to the Chinese Communist Party.
The South Asia Monitor, a website of the Society for Policy Studies, an Indian think tank, also quoted unnamed Indian diplomatic sources as saying that India strongly believes that Chinese agencies are financing the opposition to the Colombo East container terminal development.
After the Sri Lankan government announced that it was withdrawing from cooperation with India and Japan to develop the East Container Terminal at Colombo Port, both India and Japan demanded that the Sri Lankan government should honor its commitment to cooperate with the three countries to develop the East Container Terminal, instead of replacing it with the West Container Terminal development.
Anurag Srivastava, spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said yesterday that India’s investment in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure development is a mutually beneficial proposal, and that India is negotiating with Sri Lanka on the development and operation of the Colombo Port East Container Terminal and the importance of meeting international commitments.
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