China’s firm foothold in Colombo Port, which it acquired during the nine-year Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, continues to worry India even after the change of regime in Sri Lanka in January this year. 

 

Colombo port and India are inextricably linked, with Indian vessels using Colombo for transshipment in a major way, and Colombo port getting 70 percent of its business from India-related transshipment. An authoritative Indian source told Express that India has reasons to be worried because China has got entrenched in Lankan ports, acquiring long term or inalienable rights.

 

In the US$1.4 billion Colombo Port City project, a Chinese state-owned company was given 88 hectares of land on a 99 year lease, and a further 20 hectares on free hold basis.

 

“The Chinese can keep track of Indian shipments from this strategically located spot,” the source warned.

 

At the Colombo Port Second Terminal, to be run by a China-Lanka consortium for 35years, a Chinese naval ship docked in July 2014, and a submarine in September that year. In the proposed second container terminal at the US$ 810 million Chinese-built Hambantota port, four of the seven berths were leased to a Chinese company. The Wickremesinghe government has allowed the same company to set up a naval dockyard there.

 

The Chinese have swung US$ 1 billion worth of highways projects. While the Wickremesinghe government is reviewing the already executed US$ 810 million Indian railway project to check on over pricing, it has allowed the Chinese to go ahead with their rail projects worth US$ 800 million.

 

The Wickremesinghe government is continuing Rajapaksa’s policy of giving major road and rail projects to the Chinese.

 

From 2005 to 2014, the Chinese had given or pledged, funds to the tune US$ 6.8 billion, 98 percent of it as loan at a high interest rate. China was reportedly trying to convert debt into equity, worrying Lankans.

 

Initially, the Wickremesinghe regime halted Chinese projects to re-negotiate the unfair terms. But with China apparently yielding to Lankan sensitivities, all its projects, barring the Port City Project which has to get environmental clearance, are humming again.

(The New Indian Express)