China pushes its interest after debt restructuring pledge to Sri Lanka

After pledging to renegotiate its debt to Sri Lanka, China is back on track.  Besides, since Sri Lanka urgently needs China to restructure its USD 7 billion debt to the country, Sri Lanka has vowed to support the dragon at this juncture by conceding to its demands. High-ranking Chinese VIPs arrived recently in preparation for their bilateral agreements. They have brought with them some suggestions, including the stalled discussions on the Sri Lanka-China Free Trade Agreement, among many other deals that were not executed despite China wanted them long before.  

Notably, on April 22, 2023, China Merchants Group Chairman Miao Jianmin met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and reviewed numerous large investment proposals. China Merchants Group, the island's single largest foreign investor, has already invested USD 2 billion, according to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.

China has returned to action after remaining mute on aiding Sri Lanka's debt restructuring process. They, like other main creditors such as India, Japan and Japan, seized the opportunity when Sri Lanka was able to gather all of them around the table to help Sri Lanka reach its USD 2.9 billion bailout package.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that the creditors of Sri Lanka should meet up with Sri Lankan officials by end of April 2023, to discuss about the debt restructuring process and that the IMF will not engage itself. Sri Lanka is desperate to obtain the IMF bailout of USD 2.9bn that would boost investor confidence as well as to repay some of the defaulted credits.

On April 23, 2023, a grand signing ceremony of 15 projects was held at the Hambantota International Port covering shipping, logistics, warehouse, duty free, fuel oil sales, construction, yachts manufacturing etc., between Sri Lanka, China and the Maldives. This was not executed despite the plans were announced some two years ago.

Also, on April 25, 2023, the Chinese Embassy announced that the their Out-Patient Department (OPD) building of the Sri Lankan National Hospital, which is the largest ever China-Aid project in  Sri Lanka with eight-storey, 50000 square meters area and a daily access of 6000 patients, was handed over to Sri Lanka today. The Sri Lankan government is expected to open it to the public soon.

On April 21, China Merchants Group also signed an agreement with Sri Lanka Ports Authority to jointly build the South Asia Commercial and Logistics Hub, the first major FDI project after Sri Lanka default last year. China was chosen to be the contractor of the massive project at the Colombo Port. It is said to be an investment of USD 392 million. 

The Chinese Embassy also noted that the China Merchants Foundation (CMF) and Hambantota International Port Group have completed and opened a series of development projects including economic center, health center and community center in the highest-populated village of Kandagasmankada, Lunugamwehera, Hambantota.

But the interesting most activity between China and Sri Lanka was the  8th China - Sri Lanka Joint Workshop on Ocean Sustainable Development that was held on 24-25 April in Colombo, co-organized by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Ruhuna  in down South of Sri Lanka.

About 100 scientists attended the workshop of the China - Sri Lanka Joint Center for Education and Research (CSL-CER).

The South China Sea Institute of Oceanology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences had signed an MoU with Ruhuna University to set up a joint institute of oceanographic studies. It was part of an MoU between the Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education and the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed in Colombo on September 12 2014  when Mahinda Rajapaksa was the president. The official ceremony took place in the Senate Room of the University of Ruhuna, Matara.

The relationship between China and Ruhuna University has come to light again but this time, amidst rumours that the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and University of Ruhuna are planning to build a High-Frequency Short Wave (HFSW) radar station at Dondra, the country's southernmost point, with a range of 180 km towards the South and a coverage of 120 degrees. This news has attracted attention across the world.

Additionally, similar information appeared on the British publications which reported that a Chinese radar installation at Dondra Bay might monitor US military action in Diego Garcia as well as ship movements by Australian, Japanese, and Indian vessels in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

 Despite this news was dismissed as a rumor, China is now re-established the lost links with Ruhuna University through the China-Sri Lanka Joint Center for Education and Research (CSL-CER). Even Sri Lanka's Ambassador to China, Dr. Palitha Kohona, commended on the workshop.

Counselor Hu Wei, Deputy Chief of Mission from the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, Vice Chancellor of UoR Prof. Sujeewa Amarasena, and Director-General of SCSIO Prof. Chaolun Li attended the Symposium and delivered warm remarks on the occasion of the 8th China-Sri Lanka Joint Workshop on Ocean Sustainable Development.

Prof. Sujeewa Amarasena stated that the China-Sri Lanka joint Center for Education and Research (CSL-CER) represents a historic turning point in the University of Ruhuna's international academic engagement. CSL-CER was created at the University of Ruhuna as a result of the long-term, strong symbiotic relationship between Sri Lanka and China with the goal of boosting science education and research in Sri Lanka.

During the workshop, the experts engaged in academic discussions about ocean sustainability. Academician Zixin Deng of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dr. Saman Seneweera of the University of Melbourne in Australia, and others were invited to give academic oral presentations. The workshop featured professionals from Shandong University, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Eastern University of Sri Lanka, and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies of Sri Lanka. UoR and SCSIO have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their relationship, the Chinese Embassy noted.

The combined workshop, according to Prof. Changsheng Zhang, Director of the CSL-CER, and Prof. Disna Ratnasekera, Co-Director of the CSL-CER, would foster collaborative study on the Indian Ocean's sustainable development. Scientists expressed strong interest in carrying out future collaboration and developing new suggestions using the CSL-CER as a bridge platform.

Prof. Sujeewa Amarasena and Prof. Chaolun Li, chairmen of the workshop organization commission, praised the efforts and support of CSL-CER colleagues in overcoming difficulties caused by the severe COVID-19 pandemic, and expressed confidence in the glorious future of China-Sri Lanka scientific collaboration. Some of these scientists from China were part of the 2014 MoU signed at the Ruhuna Universtiy.

Until date, this collaboration with the University of Ruhuna has been opaque as to the nature of this collaboration with China.  Even what the China espionage ship Yuan Wang 5 performed while mapping the Indian Ocean is unknown; only those on board and the Chinese Communist Party know what they were up to. When the ship arrived at the Port in Hambantota, no visitors were allowed to board the ship to see the unique gadgets and the radars on the ship.

When the ship arrived in Sri Lanka, India requested the government  not to allow the ship but China succeeded in docking it at the port.  According to foreign security specialists cited by Reuters, the Yuan Wang 5 is one of China's most advanced space-tracking ships, designed to follow satellite, rocket, and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. It was labeled as a "dual-use spy ship" in several Indian media publications.

So the country is still clueless what the ship had as well as what the China-Sri Lanka Joint Center for Education and Research (CSL-CER) would do. The radar in Dondra may be a rumour but ‘there is no smoke without fire.