Chief of Sri Lanka’s largest business chamber says China’s Belt and Road Initiative an opportunity, not a threat
Posted on July 28th, 2018
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, July 28 – China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), trade and infrastructure initiatives and investments in Sri Lanka’s ports could be seen as an opportunity and not a threat, the EconomyNext quoting head of Sri Lanka’s biggest business chamber said.
Rajendra Theagarajah, Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said Sri Lankan businesses could not afford to ignore the evolving international trade patterns and the most visible of the two or three which are currently happening around Sri Lanka is the Maritime Silk Road initiative of China.
Commenting on the Belt and Road Initiative, Theagarajah said, It is actually a necklace which the Chinese Government is intending to embrace, one in terms of the road connecting the eastern part of China with Western Europe. They will complete the necklace which they intend to cover through Sri Lanka.”
He further explained that Pakistan was already making use of China’s Maritime Silk Road, despite the internal conflicts they are currently facing, like what Sri Lanka faced for 30 years.
Pakistan has allowed the Belt and Road Initiative to go through their country and have managed to get two bids for key infrastructure for the benefit of their country, Theagarajah said.
The Chinese are to invest in something like 4200 megawatts of renewable energy in Pakistan, which is effectively taking care of their entire energy requirements,” he said.
The second thing is that, last year, based on public Google-able data, as a result of this road, cross border trade between Pakistan and the countries which embrace the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 15 percent to USD1.1 trillion,” Theagarajah added.
It just gives you some idea of the opportunity regardless of politics, if you embrace something just happening around you.”
July 29th, 2018 at 11:06 pm
A glaring geopolitical contest
Sun, Jul 29, 2018
June 29 (Hindu) The geopolitical contest between India and China in Sri Lanka is no secret, but it has never been as blatant as was seen in developments last week.
Cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne, in a recent media briefing, spoke of Sri Lanka having to balance the two powers, in the context of China holding a majority stake in the southern Hambantota port, and a proposed joint venture giving India a 70% stake in running the nearby Mattala airport.
Sri Lankans were hardly surprised by Mr. Senaratne’s comments, which simply reflected Colombo’s challenge in this balancing act with its immediate neighbour and a willing lender. How this played out at the Cabinet meeting the previous day is more significant.
In the wake of India raising concern with Sri Lanka about a Chinese project to build 40,000 homes in the north, President Maithripala Sirisena is said to have advised the Cabinet to take a decision after consulting India and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which represents northern Tamils. New Delhi had earlier complained about the opaqueness in choosing the builder, reportedly without a competitive bidding process.
Days after the Cabinet meeting, the TNA urged the government to award the contract to India, sources in Colombo told The Hindu. The TNA conveyed to the Indian mission here that the people of the north would like brick-and-mortar homes, rather than the controversial pre-fabricated homes that they rejected when the Resettlement Ministry earlier pushed the idea.
India, which has already built 46,000 houses in the north through a grant of $270 million, has suggested the option of a loan through its Export-Import Bank for the alternative it can offer.
As many as 1,65,000 houses are still needed in the north and east, nearly 10 years after the war. As for the people living there, all they need is a suitable home after decades of displacement and destruction. Who builds it is hardly their concern.
From their point of view, it would be rather unfair if Colombo further delayed addressing this basic requirement, that too because of a geopolitical tussle.
In recent times, India and China appear keen on a wider presence in the island. While Prime Ministers Ranil Wickremesinghe and Narendra Modi (who joined him through video-conferencing) flagged off the expansion of an India-aided ambulance service in Jaffna last weekend, President Sirisena launched the construction of a China-funded hospital in his constituency Polonnaruwa, some 300 km away, in the North-Central province.
New gift
While Mr. Modi said that In good times and bad, India has been, and will always be the first responder for Sri Lanka, Mr. Sirisena announced receiving another gift a fresh $290 million grant from China for any project of my wish.
With the coming projects and new grants, the strategic competition is no longer confined to the Southern Province, home to Hambantota and Mattala. China has begun moving northward and India southward, building 1,200 homes, in addition to model villages, though negotiations on New Delhi’s pet projects. of further developing the Trincomalee oil tank farm and the East Container Terminal in Colombo have not progressed.
As Mr. Senaratne noted, it is surely a balancing act for the government. However, it is not just about managing the two powers. Balancing the people’s interests and its own foreign policy priorities is the real challenge.