{"id":81717,"date":"2018-10-06T13:04:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T20:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=81717"},"modified":"2018-10-06T13:04:06","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T20:04:06","slug":"hambantota-port-could-soon-become-a-forward-military-base-for-chinas-navy-mike-pence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/10\/06\/hambantota-port-could-soon-become-a-forward-military-base-for-chinas-navy-mike-pence\/","title":{"rendered":"Hambantota port could soon become a forward military base for China\u2019s navy – Mike Pence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: PTI\u00a0Courtesy Adaderana<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

China is using debt diplomacy\u201d to expand its global influence, US Vice President Mike Pence alleged, citing example of a Sri Lankan port which he said could soon become a forward military base for Beijing\u2019s growing blue-water navy.<\/p>\n

Pence said China was offering hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure loans to governments from Asia to Africa to Europe to even Latin America. Yet the terms of those loans are opaque at best, and the benefits flow overwhelmingly to Beijing,\u201d Pence said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

China uses so-called \u2018debt diplomacy\u2019 to expand its influence,\u201d Pence alleged in a major foreign policy speech at the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank. Just ask Sri Lanka, which took on massive debt to let Chinese state companies build a port with questionable commercial value. Two years ago, that country could no longer afford its payments \u2013 so Beijing pressured Sri Lanka to deliver the new port directly into Chinese hands. It may soon become a forward military base for China\u2019s growing blue-water navy,\u201d Pence said.<\/p>\n

Within the American hemisphere, Beijing has extended a lifeline to the corrupt and incompetent Maduro regime in Venezuela, pledging USD 5 billion in questionable loans that can be repaid with oil, Pence told the Washington audience. China is also that country\u2019s single largest creditor, saddling the Venezuelan people with more than USD 50 billion in debt.<\/p>\n

Beijing is also corrupting some nations\u2019 politics by providing direct support to parties and candidates who promise to accommodate China\u2019s strategic objectives, he said.<\/p>\n

Since last year, the Chinese Communist Party has convinced three Latin American nations to sever ties with Taipei and recognise Beijing. These actions threaten the stability of the Taiwan Strait \u2013 and the United States of America condemns these actions,\u201d Pence said. He said while the Trump administration will continue to respect One China Policy, as reflected in the three joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, America will always believe Taiwan\u2019s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people.<\/p>\n

These are only a few of the ways that China has sought to advance its strategic interests across the world, with growing intensity and sophistication. Yet previous administrations all but ignored China\u2019s actions \u2013 and in many cases, they abetted them. But those days are over,\u201d Pence asserted.<\/p>\n

Under President Trump\u2019s leadership, the US interests have been defended with renewed American strength, he claimed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been making the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. Earlier this year, the President signed into law the largest increase in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan \u2013 USD 716 billion to extend our military dominance in every domain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re modernising our nuclear arsenal, we\u2019re fielding and developing new cutting-edge fighters and bombers, we\u2019re building a new generation of aircraft carriers and warships, and we\u2019re investing as never before in our Armed Forces.<\/p>\n

This includes initiating the process to establish the United States Space Force to ensure our continued dominance in space, and authorising increased capability in the cyber world to build deterrence against our adversaries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

China now spends as much on its military as the rest of Asia combined, and Beijing has prioritised capabilities to erode America\u2019s military advantages \u2013 on land, at sea, in the air, and in space, Pence alleged.<\/p>\n

China wants nothing less than to push the United States of America from the Western Pacific and attempt to prevent us from coming to the aid of our allies,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n

Source: PTI<\/strong><\/p>\n

-Agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: PTI\u00a0Courtesy Adaderana China is using debt diplomacy\u201d to expand its global influence, US Vice President Mike Pence alleged, citing example of a Sri Lankan port which he said could soon become a forward military base for Beijing\u2019s growing blue-water navy. Pence said China was offering hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure loans to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81717","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=81717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}