Rajapaksa government acting against India’s national interest: UNP
Sri Lanka’s main Opposition United National Party (UNP) on Wednesday accused the government of President Rajapaksa of “acting against the national interest of neighbouring India by getting into corrupt deals with China”, and said the island nation cannot afford to have any ties with China at the expense of friendly India.
“Rajapaksas are opening flirting with Chinese to anger India, despite getting all the helps from our friendly and caring neighbour. This is not a national policy but a family policy of corruption to the maximum. This is a policy of one against 31 million (people),” Assistant Leader of the UNP Ravi Karunanayake told Colombo Mirror via phone.
Commenting on the recent arrival submarines to Colombo harbour and the Chinese-built Hambantota port and Matara international airport, Mr Karunanayake said such actions and the excessive Chinese influence in other sectors of the country “has obviously worried India and rightly so”.
“This corrupt government is openly pushing an anti-Indian policy. We certainly need all the neighbours to support us, but nothing is at the expense of India. We cannot act against the national interest of India. I warned this government today in parliament that all illegal and corrupt contracts between the current government and Chinese companies would be cancelled outright when we come to power,” Mr Karunanayake said.
He said the UNP would not allow at any cost India to be sidelined by giving more prominence to China through major projects in the country.
Questioning the dim commercial and economic viability of the Chinese projects, including the Colombo Port City project, Karunanayake said that the Rajapaksa government has been “purposefully attempting to create competition between India and China by giving priority to Chinese companies”.
The remarks by the senior member of the main opposition has come at a time when the India is furious with Sri Lanka for allowing the Chinese nuclear-powered submarines to have a free run in its territorial waters.
At least two nuclear-powered Changzheng-2 submarines, accompanied by warships have arrived twice within matter of two months. Second Chinese submarine has called on the Colombo harbour a couple of weeks after India summoned Sri Lanka’s powerful defence secretary Gotabaya Rakapaksa and delivered a tough message about the increasing Chinese activities.
