{"id":112066,"date":"2021-02-25T16:50:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T23:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112066"},"modified":"2021-02-25T16:50:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T23:50:39","slug":"china-can-extend-hambantota-port-lease-to-198-years-sri-lankan-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/25\/china-can-extend-hambantota-port-lease-to-198-years-sri-lankan-minister-says\/","title":{"rendered":"China can extend Hambantota port lease to 198 years, Sri Lankan minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><a class=\"article-author__name-link\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/author\/catherine-wong\" data-v-22ae94a0=\"\" data-v-001e3e4a=\"\">Catherine Wong <\/a>Courtesy The South China Morning Post<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Beijing denies the deal is being renegotiated after reports that Colombo is revisiting the agreement<\/li><li>Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the previous government had agreed to a 99-year lease with the option of another 99 years<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1098,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1200x800\/public\/d8\/images\/methode\/2021\/02\/25\/74993e1c-768e-11eb-8b9d-76c80a88a6d4_image_hires_120405.jpg?itok=_5w5Zb4K&amp;v=1614225855\" alt=\"China signed a deal to lease the Hambantota port, located at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, in 2017. Photo: Xinhua\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/sri-lanka\">Sri Lanka<\/a>\u2019s foreign minister said the 99-year lease of the Hambantota port to China could be extended to 198 years, calling it a mistake\u201d made by the previous government, after reports that Colombo was revisiting the agreement.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy-defence\/article\/2123658\/sri-lanka-hands-over-major-port-chinese-company\">The port deal<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 signed in 2017 by the previous Sri Lankan government to cover its debts to China \u2013 has been the subject of intense international scrutiny amid accusations Beijing is using debt trap diplomacy\u201d for geopolitical clout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hambantota\u2019s location at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, overlooking South Asia\u2019s vital sea lanes, makes it a potential key maritime hub in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, younger brother of two-time former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he wanted to renegotiate the deal with China soon after he took office in late 2019, but later denied he had such a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/methode\/2021\/02\/25\/ac498d12-768e-11eb-8b9d-76c80a88a6d4_1320x770_120405.jpg\" alt=\"Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is said to be revisiting the port deal with China. Photo: Xinhua\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is said to be revisiting the port deal with China. Photo: Xinhua<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, on February 6 the chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority told&nbsp;<em>Ceylon Today<\/em>&nbsp;that the president was revisiting the port deal. General Daya Ratnayake also said Sri Lanka had not gained much from the agreement and that it had relocated its naval base from the area controlled by China after many discussions with the Chinese officials\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We are revisiting the proposal even now,\u201d Ratnayake was quoted as saying. It was unfortunate and such a deal on Hambantota port shouldn\u2019t have been done. But the review process is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/asia\/south-asia\/article\/3117659\/sri-lanka-revives-colombo-port-deal-japan-india-over\">Sri Lanka revives Colombo port deal with Japan, India over \u2018geopolitical concerns\u201914 Jan 2021<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena added to uncertainty over the deal on Saturday, telling the same newspaper that the previous government made a mistake on the Hambantota port deal when they cancelled the lease and gave it on a longer period of 99 years plus another 99 years once the first term ends\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But he did not say whether the government intended to make changes to the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/methode\/2021\/02\/25\/7fc14370-768e-11eb-8b9d-76c80a88a6d4_1320x770_120405.jpg\" alt=\"Beijing said the deal was not being renegotiated, and that the port had overcome the challenges of the pandemic and its operations were expanding. Photo: AFP\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing said the deal was not being renegotiated, and that the port had overcome the challenges of the pandemic and its operations were expanding. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China on Wednesday denied the deal was being renegotiated, with foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin instead saying that the port\u2019s operations were expanding.EVERY SATURDAYSCMP Global Impact NewsletterBy submitting, you consent to receiving marketing emails from SCMP. If you don&#8217;t want these, tick hereBy registering, you agree to our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/terms-conditions\">T&amp;C<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The relevant reports are inconsistent with facts,\u201d Wang said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the deal was negotiated under an equal and voluntary basis\u201d between the two countries, and that it was intended to transform the port into a logistics, transport and industrial hub in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With mutual efforts from the Chinese and Sri Lankan sides, the Hambantota port has overcome the challenges of the pandemic and has maintained good momentum in expanding operations,\u201d he said.The port deal, a key project in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/belt-and-road-initiative\">China\u2019s controversial Belt and Road Initiative<\/a>, has been closely watched, with critics saying it could add to Sri Lanka\u2019s heavy debt burden, which could push Colombo to accept Beijing\u2019s geopolitical demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pang Zhongying, an international relations scholar with the Ocean University of China, said Beijing was likely to face more pressure over its activities in Sri Lanka given its growing rivalry with the United States and also India in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka has long been in India\u2019s backyard and it has a complicated relationship with India. And as the [Joe] Biden administration pushes to deepen [America\u2019s] Indo-Pacific strategy, China is likely to face even more challenges in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine Wong Courtesy The South China Morning Post Beijing denies the deal is being renegotiated after reports that Colombo is revisiting the agreement Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the previous government had agreed to a 99-year lease with the option of another 99 years Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign minister said the 99-year lease of the Hambantota [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}