Red flags are going up in India over China’s contemporary makes an attempt to develop its footprint in northern Sri Lanka within the garb of infrastructure initiatives, with Beijing even making efforts to woo the ethnic Tamil group there.
China, which has already made deep strategic inroads into Sri Lanka by way of its predatory debt insurance policies, is now assiduously working in direction of establishing its presence on the island nation as shut to the Indian coast as doable, say sources within the Indian safety institution.
“Proliferation of Chinese economic activity and proposed infrastructure development projects in the Northern province of Sri Lanka, which could be later exploited for strategic reasons, is certainly a matter of concern for India,” mentioned a supply.
Earlier, the Chinese initiatives have been largely restricted to southern Sri Lanka. “But the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government is now facilitating several Chinese ventures in northern Sri Lanka as well, often ignoring sentiments of Tamil residents there. We are closely monitoring the developments,” he added.
India has already protested in opposition to Sri Lanka’s choice to award a $12 million hybrid wind and photo voltaic power undertaking to the Chinese Sinosar-Etechwin three way partnership in three islets off the Jaffna Peninsula in February this yr.
With the islets being barely 50 km from the Tamil Nadu coast, India has countered with a suggestion of a $12 million grant to Sri Lanka for execution of the initiatives.
“Another Chinese joint venture has been allotted land in a coastal village in northern Sri Lanka for farming sea cucumber fish despite protests by local farmers. Several such inroads in the region are being observed,” mentioned one other supply.
India, of course, continues to be upset with Sri Lanka for going again on its tripartite pact to collectively develop the East Container Terminal on the Colombo Port together with Japan. Then there are additionally festering variations over the oil tanks farm undertaking at Trincomalee.
But it has been easy crusing for China within the island nation, from the 99-yr lease of the Hambantota port to the brand new Colombo Port City Project. Apart from Sri Lanka, China has been systematically spreading its wings in all the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by forging maritime hyperlinks with Seychelles,Mauritius, Maldives, Bangladesh, Myanmar and east African nations, amongst others.
Source : Pehal News
