Will Lankan lion retire after handing over sword to Chinese panda?

Friday, 19 September 2014 

International political analysts are paying special attention to the 20 various agreements worth three billion US dollars signed by Chinese president Xi Jinping during his visit to Sri Lanka. None of these 20 agreements relate to assistance or grants for the development of Sri Lanka. All of them are being granted at very high interest rates.

The projects built with Chinse government loans on very high interest – Norochcholai coal power plant, Ruhunupura Magampura port, Mattala Rajapaksa international airport – all are complete failures. Despite that, the Chinese government continues to give loans at very high interest and Sri Lanka accepts under any condition. Both parties are unaware of the fate of 30 per cent of such borrowings so far.  The Chinese government fakes ignorance of the massive swindling taking place, as it has other objectives when granting loans to Sri Lanka.

All Sri Lankan media are agog with praises for the port city project in Colombo being built on a Chinese government loan. They are happy that 0.89 square kms are being added to the 25,332 sqkms land area in Sri Lanka. But, what they do not know is that this port city will not belong to Sri Lanka. Not even the Sri Lankan national flag can be displayed there, which is also the case at the Sri Lanka port’s southern terminal.

A fully Chinese government owned company called Lanka Coal Company has been established to operate the Norochcholai power plant. The Sri Lankan government is merely a partner. The repayment of the loan obtained for the project will have to be done by the Sri Lankan government by some other method, as it is no longer a financial obligation of Sri Lanka. At a future budget, finance ministry secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara will find this very helpful to bridge the budget deficit. If this trial becomes a success, similarly, the Magampura port and Mattala airport can be handed over to China and Sri Lanka’s budget deficit can be reduced further. But, the owner of these properties will be the Chinese government. India is paying much attention to this situation.

By now, Kollupitiya and Bambalapitiya in Sri Lanka’s capital city have between 500 and 1,000 Chinese prostitutes providing their sexual services. In addition, 100 Chinese women sex workers are giving their services in Hambantota town, according to survey reports.

Only UNP’s Dr. Harsha de Silva is, at least once in a while, raises objections of some sort to these developments. The JVP seems unaware of the Chinese presence. They attack India only. Rajapaksas think of remaining in power forever with Chinese support. But, in the very near future, when the destruction caused by the Chinese panda becomes evident, we the Sri Lankans will be left with only to say that when compared to the Chinese panda, our tiger was like a cat.