According to Xinhua News Agency, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Gunawardena paid an official visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese high-level officials. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that Prime Minister Gunawardena has visited China many times and made important contributions to the development of China-Sri Lanka relations. The leaders of the two countries will deepen political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation between the two countries, and have an in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have always helped each other and moved forward hand in hand, setting an example of equality and friendly coexistence between countries. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Sri Lanka relations and is willing to work with Sri Lanka to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and promote the continuous development of the China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership.
Some time ago, a Chinese military cooperation delegation visited Sri Lanka and held talks with senior officials of the defense departments of the three countries, exchanged views on the relations between the two militaries and regional security issues of common concern, and reached a series of consensus on bilateral defense cooperation, further enriching the content of defense cooperation between China and relevant countries. The defense cooperation discussed between China and Sri Lanka includes a lot of military assistance, which may be a wake-up call for Sri Lanka. During his visit to China, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister is likely to discuss financial and debt issues with the Chinese side.
Later this week, Sri Lanka plans to discuss with commercial creditors the restructuring of defaulted bonds, according to Russia's Sputnik news agency. It may not be a coincidence that Sri Lanka's visit to China coincides with negotiations with its national and international creditors. Belyaev, an independent economic analyst, believes that Sri Lanka wants to reach an agreement with China to help it restructure its debt to holders of global default obligations, and during its visit to China, it can develop algorithms to solve this problem.
According to the analysis, neither China nor international creditors want Sri Lanka to go bankrupt, and if China can reach an agreement with Sri Lanka on the debt issue, other debt holders may follow China's example and work hard to find a mutually acceptable consensus. It is worth noting that although Sri Lanka is now heavily in debt, no one has asked Sri Lanka to pay the debt immediately, which also gives Sri Lanka more time to negotiate with all parties.
In fact, before Sri Lanka approached China for negotiations, Western countries had repeatedly hyped up the so-called "debt trap" in an attempt to pour dirty water on China's head. Sri Lanka owes only 10% of its debt to China, about the same as Japan's, while the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank account for 22% of Sri Lanka's debt. This is enough to prove that Sri Lanka's debt is not caused by China, but is the result of the failure of Sri Lanka's financial policy. Sri Lanka hopes to continue to attract $5 billion in the next two years after reaching a debt restructuring agreement, the report said.
China has always given political support to Sri Lanka in resolving the financial crisis, emphasized the development of bilateral relations, and has also communicated and cooperated on the debt issue. Although Sri Lanka has appealed to China and acknowledged China's tremendous role in solving the country's financial problems, Sri Lanka's attitude towards China is not so firm, and some of the measures it has taken are not so friendly. Previously, Sri Lanka imposed restrictions on Chinese research vessels, requiring Chinese research ships not to dock at Sri Lankan ports for one year, which is obviously contrary to the atmosphere of cooperation.
Sri Lanka's foreign policy has been affected not only by pressure from the United States, but also by India, although Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Sabri has said that he will not allow other countries to interfere in Sri Lanka's relations with China, but in practice, it has not been so smooth. It is hoped that China's help will be exchanged for sincerity.