China defends military ties with Sri Lanka after submarine visit blocked
China defended its military relationship with Sri Lanka as good for regional peace and stability after Sri Lanka rejected a request from China to dock one of its submarines in Colombo this month.
Sri Lanka last allowed a Chinese submarine to dock in the capital of Colombo in October 2014, a move that triggered fierce opposition from its northern neighbor India, which worries about growing Chinese activity in a country it has long viewed as part of its area of influence.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday for a two-day official visit.
China’s Defence Ministry, in a statement sent to Reuters, did not directly mention the rejected request for the submarine visit, but said its submarines needed a place to resupply on their way to anti-piracy missions.
“The stopping to resupply of our military’s submarines that are on their way to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for protection missions is an internationally accepted practice,” the ministry said.
In recent years, the Chinese and Sri Lankan militaries had had fruitful and effective cooperation in areas like mutual visits and training, it added.
“The cooperation between the Chinese and Sri Lankan militaries is beneficial to regional peace and stability, is not aimed at any third party and should not be interfered in by a third party,” the ministry said, without elaborating.
The timing of the incident is awkward as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected in Beijing this weekend to attend a summit on China’s new Silk Road plan.
A senior Sri Lankan government official said China’s request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo this month had been rejected. He said Sri Lanka was “unlikely” to agree to China’s request to dock the submarine at any time, given India’s concerns.
A second official, at the defense ministry, also said China’s request to dock this month had been rejected but that a decision on a further docking had been postponed.
China has invested heavily in Sri Lanka in recent years, funding airports, roads, railways and ports, unsettling India, traditionally the closest economic partner of the island nation of 21 million people.
More than 70 percent of the trans-shipment in Colombo port comes from India.
Sri Lanka is finalizing a plan to lease 80 percent of its loss-making Hambantota port to China for 99 years, but the deal has been delayed because of opposition from trade unions.
A 1987 accord between India and Sri Lanka provides that their territories not be used for activities deemed prejudicial to each other’s unity, integrity and security.
(Reuters)
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What is the final outcome of Modi’s diplomatic mission to Sri Lanka. Allocation of 10,000 housing units will contribute to improve the qualitaitve life of tamils in the plantation sector.
However it should have been noted that this is a legacy of british colonialism and they remained stateless until the Sirima/Shatri accord of 1964 “300,000 of these persons together with the natural increase in that number will be granted Ceylon citizenship by the Government of Ceylon; the Government of India will accept repatriation to India of 525,000 of these persons together with the natural increase in that number. The Government of India will confer citizenship on these persons.”
This is one of India’s concerns just as much as that of Sri Lankan engagement of the Chinese. Sri ought to be more conserned with its own economic interests for in the event of a major conflict between east and te west Sri Lankans will be the victims od esolation