By : A.A.M.Nizam – MATARA

During the run-up to the Presidential Election in 2015 and in the post election period at the instigation of the Western war mongers and the hegemonic India the United National Party ruffians including Western puppet Ranil Wickremasinghe blatantly and profusely ridiculed and demonized the Chinese funded projects in Sri Lanka and said that the projects are being built with substandard and outdated material, below international standards, technically inferior,  over prized, environmentally disastrous, and they are being built by offering attractive commissions to certain politicians.  They also said that Sri Lanka will soon become a Chinese colony and the Chinese will surpass the Sri Lankan population in certain areas.

They also claimed that a chain of western countries, India and the world’s prominent investors are waiting in a queue to come to Sri Lanka to assist in rebuilding the country soon after the election and after their imminent victory.  .

Immediately after the election they suspended all the Chinese funded projects including the prestigious and iconic 1.4 Billion US$ Port City Project claiming that building of this project will not only be environmentally disastrous for Sri Lanka but to the whole Indian Ocean region as well. This was undoubtedly a meticulous Indian initiated move to contain China in the region.

After the election the western governments as usual showered only their verbal hosannas on the new government saying that democracy has been restored in the country and the region and they will assist the new government to consolidate democracy and promote what they called reconciliation and human rights indirectly implying that Sri Lank all these years was an inhuman barbaric country.

Immediately after establishing the new government Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasighe presented many economic proposals and held several Economic Forums inviting the notorious George Soros and several other characters of his caliber to address these economic Forums and make investment proposals.  Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, President Vladimir Putin and China have banned the Hungarian born Soros from visiting their countries and condemned him as responsible for economic downfall of many countries including Britain.  Another boasting made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and his office was that for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka the Prime Minister had been invited to attend the Davos economic summit in Switzerland.  He addressed the economists and investors in a special meeting in Davos but there was no one there to give ear to his investment offers.

Economic analysts point out that Sri Lanka’s all economic ills emerged with the illegal bond issue made by the Governor of the Central Bank Singaporean Arjun Mahendran to his Son-in-Law’s company, the steep fall of the rupee value against the dollar, haphazard issue of sovereign bonds and the steep collapse of the stock market due to massive withdrawals of funds by foreign investors, and taking short term loans at high interest rates from the hegemonic India and taking further Indian loans to repay the previous loans..

Meanwhile the Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who has made numerous uneconomical moves, said that an investor from Belgium would be investing one billion USD in Sri Lanka at 2% interest to shore up our sagging foreign currency reserves. This investment too never materialized forcing Sri Lanka to seek for a relief package from the IMF.

Some other economic analysts point out that the Balance of Payment difficulties the country is facing are due to several factors and the large trade deficit of about 8 billion US dollars is a core reason. They say that it has been caused by the large fiscal deficits that increased imports, the fall in exports owing to global conditions, and a flight in capital owing to domestic and international reasons and the slowdown of workers’ remittances owing to the falling of international oil prices. They also state that Sri Lanka is finding it extremely difficult to raise fresh funds from the world market after international ratings firms Fitch and Standard & Poor’s reduced the country’s credit rating in February and March.

It was under these circumstances, and with no other alternative in sight, the prat-fallen Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe was forced to lead a high level ministerial delegation to China begging forgiveness for his past mistakes and utterances against China and bowing down at the heels of Chinese leaders in order to get Sri Lanka rescued economically.

Despite what was said and done by the UNP ruffians including Ranil Wickremasinghe about them Chinese leaders were magnanimous in forgiving them and making generous offers which would have even surprised Ranil Wickremasinghe. This is the second time that China has come forward to rescue a UNP government, the first being during the 1953 rice crisis, despite their stern anti-Chinese outlook.  If it happened to be a western government they would have snubbed Ranil Wickremasinghe and urged him to dissolve his government and seek a fresh mandate.

The generous facilities granted by China include

• A grant of 500 Million Yuan which is equivalent to Rs. 11180 Million and amounted to Rs. 559 for each and every Sri Lankan.

• Seven agreements including ETCA-type deal on investment  
• Fresh agreement for Chinese companies to present proposals on investment including new highways rail and integrated infrastructure projects.
• LNG power plant, oil refinery, dockyard, 20 new roads, Mattala, tourism development among projects    
• Joint task force to be established to oversee engagement, and
• An MoU with China Development Bank

Chinese President Xi Jinping who met Ranil Wickremasimnghe on Friday has said China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to consolidate traditional friendship, expand reciprocal cooperation, and push forward strategic partnership of cooperation to a new high. He has said the two countries should take the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to deepen cooperation in terms of trade, infrastructure, industrial parks, manufacturing, production capacity, technology, and ocean and China will positively consider helping Sri Lanka build health projects and is ready for more cooperation in areas such as tourism, education and culture.

In response Ranil Wickremasinghe has said that Sri Lanka will actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, strengthen cooperation with China in port and airport construction, trade, investment, transportation and technology, and increase cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

However it is not yet clear that Sri Lanka was able to clear the US$ 125 Million penalty payment being demanded by the Chinese company handling the port city construction to compensate the losses they have incurred for stalling the project.

The reactionary United National Party should at least learn from this visit that it is not the West and hegemonic India that they worship that genuinely help countries like ours but it is China and the other socialist countries including Russia.