China dubs stories about Lanka being put in a debt trap as “fake news”
Posted on July 3rd, 2018
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Beijing, July 3 (Xinhua/newsin.asia): The spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lu Kang, told the media here on Tuesday that US media reports about China putting Sri Lanka into a debt trap are fake news.”
Such reports seriously distort the facts, which are either irresponsible or under the orders of people with ulterior motives. We hope that the relevant media will not be keen on fake news,” he said.
The construction of the Hambantota port is the wish of successive governments and people of Sri Lanka,” Lu said,, adding that China encourages its companies to cooperate with the Sri Lankan side according to commercial principles and on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
According to the needs of Sri Lanka, Chinese financial institutions have provided support to Sri Lanka in solving the financing gap. Later, the Chinese side made efforts to adjust relevant asset allocations according to the wishes of the Sri Lankan side,”
Hde noted that those arrangements will benefit business cooperation between the two sides.
If the fabricators of the so-called ‘debt trap’ cannot give the developing countries real help, they can at least take a healthy attitude towards the sincere cooperation between other countries,” Lu suggested.
China and Sri Lanka are committed to pushing forward cooperation on the Hambantota port project and realizing the goal of making Sri Lanka the logistics center of the Indian Ocean, he said.
It is not only conducive to the economic development of Sri Lanka, but also conducive to regional interconnection and the common prosperity of regional countries,” he added,
Lu made the remarks in response to allegations that appeared in U.S. media reports, which stated that China’s acquisition of the Hambantota port from Sri Lanka highlights its debt trap” and ambitious use of loans to gain influence around the world.