China escapes Ranil’s trap
2016-08-03
Ranil Wickremesinghe recently went to China similar to when Gamini Dissanayake was sent by JR to India during the period 1983-1987 when India was growling at Sri Lanka. JR sent Gamini to India to see whether, the LTTE India made could be given back to India and put an end to the conflict here. Rajiv jumped at that suggestion and put the Indo-Lanka Agreement on to JR's shoulders. JR also accepted it. Rajiv took on the burden of the LTTE.
At the end Rajiv had to pay compensation with his own life. Ranil went to China with a pill similar to JR's. That was to escape from the Chinese loan trap by asking them to take over the Hambantota Harbour and the Mattala Airport which were built with Chinese financial assistance. What was apparent was that the Chinese were far more cunning than India. India swallowed JR's pill. However, China did not swallow Ranil's pill. Ranil suggested that the Hambantota Harbour and the Mattala Airport be handed over to China for a certain period of time.
Ranil had proposed that China set off the loans against the assigning of the harbour and the air port. However, China had refused to do so saying it was against the policies of their government. What China is saying indirectly is that they do not care whether there are ships arriving at Hambantota or not or whether air planes arrive at Mattala or not and what they want is for their loans and the interest to be paid to them.
Actually the government is in the midst of the budget crisis due to Chinese loans and interest. VAT was imposed in order to find money to pay back these loans and interest. The government is engaged in Treasury Bond transactions because it is unable to pay back the loans and burden of interest. It was in the decade of 1980 that India thought of the easy way of having an impact on Sri Lanka by helping the militants in the North to engage in a war. We do not know whether China provided loans for Mattala and the harbour while thinking the same thing. If China had thought about Sri Lanka they should have studied the profits of these projects ahead of time. However, such a thing had not been done. What that shows is that China had two objectives. The first was to entangle Sri Lanka in the debt trap and bring the country to submission under China. The second was to use this harbour and the airport in the future for Chinese military strategies. China said their objective regarding the Hambantota Harbour was not a military one, but a commercial objective. If their objective was regarding commerce, China should have jumped at Ranil's proposal and accepted it. The reason is because it is commercially advantageous to China. However, there is no sign to be seen that China wants to develop the Hambantota Harbour and the Mattala Airport, economically. What they want is to squeeze Sri Lanka and get their interest and at an opportune moment use the harbour and the airport for military purposes.
Chinese projects in
Sri Lanka
It is apparent that China is using the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka for their advantage so that they could have a foot inside Sri Lanka. It is similar to how India built up the Tamil Eelam Project in Sri Lanka. It is true that India was pushed into it, because of JR's incorrect foreign policy. However, JR did not provide the support to India to create a war in Sri Lanka. Mahinda was not like that. He knowingly and with his knowledge entangled Sri Lanka in a Chinese debt trap. It is China who knows the bribes that they gave Mahinda's Government for that purpose.
Anyhow, China not agreeing to Ranil's proposition was a relief to India. When considering this on one hand, what China should have done was to have jumped at Ranil's proposal and accepted it so it would have become the best opportunity to create problems between India and the Maithri-Ranil Government. India accepted the contract to destroy the LTTE through the Indo-Lanka Agreement, while halting India's foreign enemies from taking root in Sri Lanka. India, through the agreement, tamed Sri Lanka regarding the Trincomalee Harbour.
There is no sign that China is farsighted in the same manner. What China wants at this moment is money. China wants Ranil's Government to even squeeze the necks of the Sri Lankan people and pay back the debts and interests to China. As yet China does not need to use the Hambantota Harbour and the Airport for military strategies. It could be useful in another 10 or 20 years. China will not receive anything new just because they develop these economically keeping in mind that purpose. If Mahinda won the 2015 presidential election he would have had no place to find the money to pay the loans and the interest. Neither Japan nor the International Monetary Fund would have helped Mahinda unlike the Maithri-Ranil Government. If that had happened, China would even have squeezed Mahinda's neck and tamed Sri Lanka according to the Chinese agenda of economy and war. Even while India was requesting not to do so, China sent submarines to the Colombo Harbour during the time of Mahinda's Government while choking the neck of Mahinda's administration, using the rope named 'Chinese loans'.
China does not have the ability to choke the neck of the Maithri-Ranil Government. However, China is aware of the fact that, when the Maithri-Ranil Government goes in search of money to escape the Chinese debt trap, they will be displeased. We do not know whether for that, China has a political agenda regarding Sri Lanka or not.
