Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the foreign exchange income of the south Asian island nation sri Lanka has plummeted, and the country's development is facing serious challenges. A few days ago, after the Sri Lankan side raised the hope that China would help it survive the worsening financial crisis, some Western media and Indian media linked Sri Lanka's debt problem to China's investment in the local area, maliciously speculating that Sri Lanka fell into the "Chinese debt trap". The Chinese side has refuted the false remarks that "Sri Lanka is in debt to China". The Sri Lankan side also highly affirms the friendly cooperation between Sri Lanka and China, and has repeatedly and explicitly denied that Sri Lanka is caught in the so-called "Chinese debt trap". Facts have shown that in terms of total external debt, China is only the fourth largest creditor in Sri Lanka after the international financial markets, the Asian Development Bank and Japan. A Global Times reporter recently interviewed scholars from both countries and refuted the claims about debt traps. Sri Lankan scholars praised, "China is a good friend with consistent economic policies, good trade reputation and win-win attitude." ”
"Western media ignore the contribution of Chinese investment"
"China has been helping to develop Sri Lanka's infrastructure, and Sri Lanka has not fallen into a 'debt trap.'" Sri Lankan President Gotabaya said this in October 2020 during a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo. He also stressed: "Building a port in Hambantota is Sri Lanka's idea, not China's idea. "The Sri Lankan leader's statement represents the voice of the people. Professor Haytig, an adviser to sri Lanka's National Education Commission, told the Global Times: "The loans provided by China are based on the needs of the Sri Lankan government and are used to improve our infrastructure, and these loans have brought great changes to our economy and people's livelihood, and there is no so-called 'debt trap'." And Chinese loans account for only about 10 percent of Slovakia's total debt, which some media outlets have clearly selectively ignored. ”
On January 17, Sri Lanka's Daily News published an article titled "Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal Need China for Development," saying, "South Asian countries need China in the development process, because China is synonymous with 'development.'" China's Belt and Road Initiative has brought benefits to almost all South Asian countries. In refuting the so-called "debt trap theory", the article wrote: "As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, we are the beneficiaries of The Chinese project, and many people will only speculate about the 'China Debt Trap' in this regard, but no one mentions the development brought to us by China's investment in Sri Lanka's seaports, airports, national highways and power distribution centers." ”
Indeed, Western media often slander Sri Lanka as caught in China's "debt trap," while selectively ignoring the fact that China is only Sri Lanka's fourth-largest creditor. Although Sri Lanka's share of loans from China has gradually risen from 2 percent in 2008 to about 10 percent in recent years, China's overall share is not high. Data given in an August article by the Loy Institute for International Policy, an Australian think tank, was: "Despite a lot of comments, Sri Lanka is not caught in China's debt trap." The bulk of Sri Lanka's external debt stock comes from international capital markets (47%), followed by multilateral development banks such as the Asian Development Bank (22%) and Japan (10%). Sri Lanka's debt level has risen during the pandemic, reflecting the country's recurrent fiscal deficits, currency depreciations, and sluggish economic growth caused by nearly 30 years of civil war with the Tigers. Sri Lanka's GDP contracted during the pandemic and growing concerns about its solvency led international credit rating agencies to downgrade the country and foreign capital outflows.
A recent article on the "Russia Today" network, titled "Britain's unexpected concern for Sri Lanka is nothing more than an attempt to weaken China," said that the BBC played up "Colombo Port City is a new Dubai or a Chinese enclave", and its report not only distorted the words of western scholars interviewed, but also deliberately created a "debt trap", implying that Beijing is engaged in geopolitical actions. The Russian media article also said that the BBC deliberately undermined Sino-Sri Lankan relations, but Sri Lankans would no longer be fooled by the British who had colonized them.
Heytiger said, "Western media will hype the 'China debt trap' at first glance seems to make some sense, but in fact it is deliberately hiding the huge economic value of economic development, jobs, investment attraction and so on brought about by the improvement of infrastructure." ”
"Investing in Hambantota Port is more secure"
The hambantota port at the southern tip of Sri Lanka is arguably a must-talk project for Western media touting China's "debt trap." When the Global Times reporter went to hambantota port of the Sino-Sri Lanka joint venture a few days ago, he saw that several ships were loading and unloading, maintenance and other operations on the dock, thousands of cars waiting for transshipment were neatly parked in the dock yard, and dozens of trucks on the bulk cargo terminal on the opposite shore were lining up to transfer goods from the freighter. In the field of port business, Hambantota has become an important comprehensive port in South Asia, with bulk cargo operations exceeding 1 million tons and ro-ro vehicle operations exceeding 500,000 vehicles in 2021, and the annual comprehensive cargo throughput of the port reached 2 million tons. All along, under the concept of "international management, localized operation", the localization degree of the project team has reached 98%, creating a large number of employment opportunities for the local community.
On December 14 last year, the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and other cabinet members of Sri Lanka inspected the port of Hambantota, a Sino-Sri Lankan joint venture. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Perris said that Sri Lanka is pleased to see that the port ro-ro industry has greatly improved and gradually become an internationally competitive transit port. He expected Hambantota to continue to vigorously promote investment promotion and drive the economic transformation of southern Sri Lanka.
The construction of the Hambantota Port International Park has begun to take shape. The Global Times reporter learned from china Merchants Hambantota International Port Group that by the end of 2021, the Sino-Sri Lankan joint venture Hambantota Port has attracted more than 30 enterprises from Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, China, Maldives and other countries. These enterprises involve finance, logistics, maritime services, automotive support, electronic home appliances, oil and gas energy, government one-stop service and other fields. On August 9 last year, the Maldives luxury yacht assembly project with an investment of about 400 million yuan was held at the port of Hambantota, which is also the largest investment project of a Maldivian company in Sri Lanka so far. Madi, director of Mafang Haima Yachts, who invested in the project, praised the Hangang team and said: "They are very professional! When no one could come, they took care of everything. We see the true potential of Hambantota Harbour. He also said: "We believe that investing in the Hangang Park of China's 'Belt and Road' project is more secure and secure, which is a platform worthy of the trust of investment customers." ”
The port city of Colombo, invested and developed by the China Harbor Corporation, is another "focus of attack" for the Western media. In fact, the project has a bright future, with the world's top accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers releasing a report at the end of 2021 discussing the economic impact of Port City Colombo, which argues that Port City is expected to attract more than $12.7 billion in investment over the next 20 years and contribute more than $13.8 billion to Sri Lanka's GDP annually when completed. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya personally solicited investment for Port City Colombo at the Sri Lanka Investment Forum 2021 last June, saying: "Port City will bring more opportunities to the city and become a city with world-class residential, commercial, social and recreational facilities. Our vision is to make Port City a key service hub in one of the fastest growing regions in the world. ”
The Colombo Port City Yacht Marina District officially opened to the public on January 10, attracting many tourists to visit the seafront pedestrian promenade, pedestrian bridge and yacht entertainment area. On the seafront pedestrian, the "Photo Exhibition of Sino-Sri Lankan Friendship and Cooperation" held to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sri Lanka was also exhibited. According to a number of local media outlets, including Sri Lanka's Daily Times, the marina area has become Colombo's newest must-see attraction, with nearly 90,000 local and foreign tourists visiting the promenade in just a few days. The Global Times reporter recently came to the port city tour entrance directly opposite the Sri Lankan Presidential Palace and saw many Sri Lankan people come to take photos and "punch in".
In the northern region of Sri Lanka, road reconstruction projects undertaken by Chinese companies have brought "asphalt roads at the doorstep" to local residents, directly promoting the development of the local economy. In November last year, a reporter from the Global Times went to northern Sri Lanka to visit this "village-to-village" project that benefits local people's livelihood. Kumar, who runs a grocery store in nakhon kuramma village, told reporters: "I am grateful to China. The roads built by Chinese enterprises not only make it easier for us to travel, but my small shop business is also improving, and my income has quadrupled. I was preparing to expand the house and open another small restaurant. While enthusiastically pulling the reporter to look at the inventory of goods, he said: "In the past, I did not dare to buy too many goods, because it was difficult to sell, and now it is different." ”
In 2021, Sri Lanka experienced two rounds of COVID-19 and was locked down for three months. At that time, India stopped vaccine exports due to the escalation of the domestic epidemic, but the vaccine provided by China has not been interrupted. The Sri Lankan government has vigorously carried out universal vaccination, which is commended by WHO. The Chinese vaccine is also popular with the people of Sri Lanka. At a vaccination centre in Victoria Park in Colombo, the longest queue to vaccinate China is thousands of meters, circumnavigating the park for half a week. When the Global Times reporter was riding a local "tuk-tuk (three-wheeled motorcycle)" in Colombo, the driver Gaya said: "My family and friends and I are all vaccinated with Chinese vaccines. After the reporter got out of the car, Gaya also raised his thumb and kept saying: "Chinese, Friend (Chinese, friend)!" ”
"China is a good friend with a win-win attitude"
For a long time, some Indian media have also repeatedly smeared China's cooperation with Sri Lanka, hanging on the "debt trap" and slandering the debt from China as exacerbating the External Debt Crisis. Speaking of these noises, Professor Heytiger told the Global Times that loans or economic aid from India are full of naked political purposes compared to the win-win nature of Chinese loans. For a long time, the Indian government has been using the Tamil ethnic issue to interfere in Sri Lanka's internal affairs, and recently there have even been absurd incidents in which Sri Lankan parliamentarians have written to Indian Prime Minister Modi requesting political intervention.
In addition to India, Western countries have also been interfering in Sri Lanka's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issues. Last June, the European Parliament passed a resolution on human rights in Sri Lanka, requiring the Slovak government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and even threatening to temporarily revoke the "Ultra-Generalized Status of Benefits" (GSP+) for exports of Sri Lankan products. What cannot be ignored is that the EU is an important source of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, as well as its second largest trading partner and second largest export destination.
Observers told the Global Times that the so-called "debt trap" is nothing more than a topic hyped up by the United States, the West and India to denigrate the actual effects of China's "Belt and Road" projects and to slander China's cooperation with participating countries, including Sri Lanka. Qian Feng, a south Asian research scholar and director of the research department of the Institute of National Strategic Studies of Tsinghua University, said that for India and some Western countries, Sri Lanka's geographical location is very important, and there are many economic and trade cooperation with China, so in order to undermine Sino-Sri Lankan friendship and reduce the general trust of the Sri Lankan people in China, they deliberately put on the hat of "debt trap". He believes that the closer the development of Sri Lankan relations in recent years, the better the effect of China's infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, and the more obvious the suppression of China and the "Belt and Road" by some external forces.
Qian Feng believes that the United States suppresses and denigrates China's "Belt and Road" initiative, and also has the intention of wanting Sri Lanka to turn around and choose its "help plan". He told the Global Times reporter: "But as far as the United States is concerned, whether it is the so-called 'Indo-Pacific strategy' of the Trump era or biden's newly proposed 'Indo-Pacific economic framework', at present, it seems that there are more slogans and less real money and silver, and the help to Sri Lanka does not show any results at all." ”
As for India, Qian Feng believes that whether it is government officials or the media, there is a group of people who have always held a zero-sum mentality, regarded the entire South Asian region as their sphere of influence, and remained vigilant about the development of relations between so-called "extraterritorial forces" and other countries in South Asia. "India regards South Asia as its own cake, so the development of relations between China and Sri Lanka and other countries is, in the eyes of some people in India, it is weakening India's power and influence in the region." Under this mode of thinking, some Indian forces have also constantly attempted to obstruct Sino-Sri Lankan cooperation, "including joining hands with some anti-China forces in the United States and the West to suppress it."
"India is the largest country in South Asia, and with its economic strength and religious and cultural influence, India's penetration in South Asian countries is indeed deep." Qian Feng told the Global Times reporter that India has long been making anti-China noise in other countries in South Asia, and some local people may be affected subtly. But he also stressed that in South Asia, whether in countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal or Bangladesh, these harsh noises will always represent only a small group or a very small number of people.
As Professor Hettig said: "For Sri Lanka, China is a good friend with consistent economic policies, good trade reputation and win-win attitude, and it is the responsibility of sri lanka to let others know that sri lankan-Chinese relations are mutually beneficial and win-win and are not affected by any third-party forces." ”
China's cooperation with many countries in South Asia has a long history, and its assistance to Sri Lanka and other countries has also been implemented. "China has a deeper non-governmental foundation in these countries." Qian Feng said that whether it is to help Nepal solve the problem of electricity shortage or to help Sri Lanka's "village to village" project, "the development opportunities brought by China to these countries and the improvement of people's living standards can be truly seen and felt by the local people." India and some Western countries maliciously slander and destroy and blind the people's eyes. ”