business

Sri Lanka halts port deal with India and Japan

8 Comments
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI

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8 Comments
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Sri Lanka should have accepted Japanese and other ODA only in the form of cash and then used the money to contract the project to private multinational operators on a transparent and competitive bidding process.

Why do you think India and Japan would just hand Sri Lanka a wad of cash with no prospect of repayment much less any profit. Sri Lanka can't repay its loans from China and now you think India and Japan are just going to throw money at them? With an equity stake they can recoup their investment. Sri Lanka remained the majority share holder.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Here China is playing the game.

Even after losing the major land which China took it from Srilanka, still they did not learn the lesson???

China will take over Sri Lanka, It is going to be a colony of China

What a pity , The hungry politicians are selling own nation for China. The bribe they receive from China..

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It is not exactly like what you and Indian ultranationalists describe. China is essentially doing the elite capture throughout the world - buying supports from local elites through expensive development programs. 

The Chinese are selling a pig in a poke. The debt is real, as is the inability of many recipients of this Chinese benificense to repay. What they are really doing is setting up poor desperate and gullible nations to take over significant infrastructure in their nations and turn it to use for the Chinese military. Don't be fooled by the panda, it's just a mask on the face of the dragon.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

China finished the civil war so they have all rights.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

So, India and Japan are doing what China has been doing too?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Desert Tortoise

Why do you think India and Japan would just hand Sri Lanka a wad of cash with no prospect of repayment much less any profit. 

The answer is obvious. Grants, which offer "no prospect of repayment," (sigh) are a large component of ODA, which all rich countries are obligated to provide to the developing world.

Believe it or not, ODA is supposed to benefit recipient countries' development, as opposed to furthering the geopolitical ambitions of powerful wealthy countries. Some people just don't get it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I suggest people should read this article before throwing the usual accusation of "debt traps" against China.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/09/china-belt-and-road-initiative-mess-not-master-plan/

China will take over Sri Lanka, It is going to be a colony of China

It is not exactly like what you and Indian ultranationalists describe. China is essentially doing the elite capture throughout the world - buying supports from local elites through expensive development programs. If you study Chinese history, you will see that China does not use military force to project power through conquest (they still use it occasionally for self-defense and regional projection of forces), rather they "persuaded" nations to submit as tributaries to the Chinese in exchange for the access to the world's largest economy for thousands of years.

China is rebuilding the old day prestige, and it needs a safe trade route. In order to accomplish this goal, it needs allies willing to stand with China in times of help. The quickest way to accomplish this is to secure supports from local elites.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sri Lanka should have accepted Japanese and other ODA only in the form of cash and then used the money to contract the project to private multinational operators on a transparent and competitive bidding process.

The geo-political mess it now finds itself was predictable.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

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