{"id":141168,"date":"2024-03-27T17:04:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T00:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=141168"},"modified":"2024-03-27T17:04:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T00:04:58","slug":"sri-lankas-gunawardena-says-china-to-develop-strategic-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/03\/27\/sri-lankas-gunawardena-says-china-to-develop-strategic-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s Gunawardena says China to develop \u2018strategic infrastructure\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>By: Pramod Thomas Courtesy Eastern Eye<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Dinesh Gunawardena said China would assist\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s restructuring of external deb<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.easterneye.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sri-lanka-dinesh-gunawardena-infrastructurechina-debt-crisis.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dinesh Gunawardena speaks during a press conference in Colombo. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PRIME MINISTER of Sri Lanka on Wednesday (27) announced that China has committed to enhancing the strategic deep-sea port and the capital\u2019s airport of the island nation following discussions with his counterpart in Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime minister Dinesh Gunawardena said China \u2014 the island\u2019s biggest bilateral creditor \u2014 would assist\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s restructuring of external debt, a key condition to maintaining a $2.9 billion IMF bailout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing\u2019s position on debt restructuring has not been made public, but Sri Lankan officials have said China was reluctant to take a haircut on its loans but could extend the tenure and adjust interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka in 2022 ran out of foreign exchange to finance essential imports and declared a sovereign default on its $46 billion foreign debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Months of protests forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gunawardena\u2019s office said Premier Li Qiang had promised China would assist Sri Lanka\u2019s debt restructuring process continuously and help Sri Lanka to develop its economy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gunawardena said Beijing had offered assistance to develop\u201d Colombo International Airport and Hambantota port, the statement added, without giving further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Japanese-funded expansion of Colombo airport had been on hold since Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereign debt default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The southern sea port of Hambantota was handed to a Chinese state-owned company in 2017 on a 99-year lease for $1.12bn, sparking security concerns in Beijing\u2019s regional rival India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India and the US are both concerned that a Chinese foothold at Hambantota, on the island\u2019s southern coast, could boost its naval advantage in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka has insisted its ports will not be used for any military purposes, but New Delhi has objected to Chinese research vessels calling at Hambantota fearing that they could be used for espionage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Pramod Thomas Courtesy Eastern Eye Dinesh Gunawardena said China would assist\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s restructuring of external deb Dinesh Gunawardena speaks during a press conference in Colombo. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA\/AFP via Getty Images) PRIME MINISTER of Sri Lanka on Wednesday (27) announced that China has committed to enhancing the strategic deep-sea port and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141168","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=141168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}