- Ranjan Arunkumar
- BBC Tamil
Image source, Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has paid an official visit to Sri Lanka today (08) amid continuing tensions between Sri Lanka and China over the past few months.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo, the Chinese Foreign Minister is on a two day official visit to Sri Lanka.
What is the issue between China and Sri Lanka?
When a ship carrying compost arrived in Sri Lanka in October last year, Sri Lankan agricultural researchers rejected the fertilizer, saying it contained harmful bacteria.
Sri Lanka had rejected about 20,000 metric tons of fertilizer.
The ship was anchored in Sri Lankan waters for about 70 days after it was reported that the manure brought from China was substandard.
In such a situation, the Chinese Embassy urged Sri Lanka to send the fertilizer to Swiss SGS, a world-renowned laboratory that is a third party, and test it as it is of the best quality.
China said in a statement last October that the two countries should unconditionally accept the findings of the study.
China has said it will unconditionally repatriate fertilizers if they contain harmful substances, and will pay for the fertilizer if it is not harmful.
However, without any compliance with this request of China, the manure loading ship left Sri Lankan waters.
As the issue continued, China blacklisted People’s Bank, the state-owned bank of Sri Lanka.
China blacklisted People’s Bank, although People’s Bank said it had not paid, in line with a court order.
Following this, tensions between the two countries began to intensify.
In this context, the restraining order imposed by the Colombo Commercial High Court was relaxed on the 3rd to avoid paying the domestic agent who purchased the fertilizer from the Chinese company.
Image source, Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka
The judge issued the order after the court was informed in a petition that the two parties had reached a compromise.
Following a court order, People’s Bank paid $ 6.9 million yesterday (09) to a Chinese company that allegedly sent substandard fertilizer.
China abandons power project in the north
China first abandoned three power projects on December 1 on three Sri Lankan-owned islands between Jaffna and Tamil Nadu.
China has been trying to carry out this project on the Jaffna-owned islands of Nedundee, Nainital and Analai.
In this context, the Chinese embassy in Colombo announced that it was “abandoning a power project on three islands in the north due to security concerns from third parties.”
China signed an agreement on November 29 to establish the abandoned project in the Maldives.
The notion that Sri Lanka did not cede three islands in the north to China due to Indian pressure was widely reported at the time.
Finance Minister Bashir Rajapaksa paid an official visit to India on December 1.
Just as Bush Rajapaksa began his visit to India, China announced that it was abandoning its power project in the north and launching the project in the Maldives.
Steps are being taken to hand over to India the project thus abandoned by China.
Image source, Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka
Chinese Ambassador Visits North
The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka made a three-day visit to Jaffna and Mannar in the Northern Province for the first three days from the 15th of last month.
During the visit, the Chinese Ambassador provided food items and fisheries equipment worth Rs. 2 crore to fishermen in Jaffna and Mannar adjacent to India.
Similarly, the Chinese ambassador’s visit to the sand dunes in the Gulf was seen as one of the most talked about.
It was only after reports that the project abandoned by China in the north would be handed over to India that the Chinese ambassador was able to observe a visit to the Northern Province.
The next phase moves of the Chinese ambassador
The Chinese ambassador, who is on a three-day visit to the Northern Province, concluded his visit to the North on December 17.
Following this, the Chinese Ambassador to Colombo met with Sajid Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Opposition, the main opposition party in Sri Lanka.
The Chinese ambassador who met the opposition leader donated a life-saving kidney dialysis machine worth about 20 million rupees.
The assistance was provided to hospitals in the Northern and Eastern Provinces through the Leader of the Opposition.
After that, the Chinese Ambassador visited the Southern Province and presented various assistance programs there.
During this period, the Chinese Ambassador met with a number of other politicians, including President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Image source, Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka
China’s actions
In the last few months alone, China has been seen providing millions of rupees in various projects and assistance in the Northern, Eastern and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka.
In the wake of the fertilizer issue and the abandonment of projects to be carried out on the three islands in Jaffna, it is possible to observe that China is providing such massive assistance.
Chinese Foreign Minister visits Sri Lanka
The Chinese Foreign Minister is on an official visit to Sri Lanka today (08) in the wake of some recent incidents that could lead to a rift in relations between Sri Lanka and China.
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Pashil Rajapaksa is scheduled to pay an official visit to India on October 10 and 11, but the Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka the day before has raised various suspicions.
Also, the Chinese Foreign Minister arrived in Sri Lanka today in the backdrop of the signing of an agreement on the 6th to supply Trincomalee fuel tanks of central importance in South Asia to India.
The visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister comes at a time when the Sri Lankan government is moving away from its relationship with China and is beginning to seek closer ties with India.
Political analysts say the visit is aimed at improving relations with Sri Lanka.