Editorial Courtesy The Daily Mirror

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Sri Lanka might not have the pride it showcased during the Bandaranaike era of politics, but it will stop at nothing to grab all help offered by an Asian nation like China in its attempt to rebuild a weak economy

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China’s President Xi Jinping might not be captured smiling on camera, but President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) has been grinning quite often during the latter’s ongoing official visit to China. 

AKD is on a four-day visit to China (the visit ends on January 17) and the two heads of state have discussed on bilateral issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping giving assurances that the island nation will have China’s support to usher in a new era of development. 

The issue with Sri Lanka has been that past development projects done in the island taking in foreign loans have failed to raise expected revenue. And for much of these projects, China was the lender. At least this time around, the Sri Lankan Government must think of ways to utilise upcoming development projects, so that loans obtained can be repaid. 

The Chinese Government will be all eager to help Sri Lanka only if development projects commenced here support China’s Belt-Road Initiative. Sri Lanka-China relationships stretches back to 1952 when the two nations signed the Rubber-Rice Pact. In earlier times, Sri Lanka didn’t feel settled to help a non-socialist country to import rubber, fearing a backlash from USA. But now the global picture has changed and China is an emerging superpower and a more helpful business partner compared to other ambitious countries, which wish to rope in Sri Lanka and engage in geopolitics.  

Sri Lanka might not have the pride it showcased during the Bandaranaike era of politics, but it will stop at nothing to grab all help offered by an Asian nation like China in its attempt to rebuild a weak economy. China’s presence in East Asia can be annoyingly affected if any other powerful nation secures footing on Sri Lanka in the guise of offering aid and help for development. But AKD was wise enough to do a visit to India first before saying yes to an official visit to China; the latter being AKD’s second official visit to a country after assuming the presidency in September last year. 

There was a gun salute for AKD in China. The Sri Lankan president was then seen laying a floral tribute at the Mao Zedong Mausoleum later on. AKD probably felt his own pulse beating a bit louder when standing near the stature of the Chinese legendary leader because he can relate well to this socialist icon. Zedong was ruthless against his opponents and whatever that stood in his way. AKD can take a cue from China and be ruthlessly efficient instead. Many who work closely with AKD affirm that the new Sri Lankan President is a task master and workaholic; one Sri Lankan social media website recently reported that the island’s president can run a full day at work with just two breaks and that only for two cups of tea!

Forget China’s helping hand towards Sri Lanka, the Chinese are on a mission to conquer the business world and further their maritime interests on the Indian Ocean. During the Sri Lankan head of state’s visit to China, his Chinese counterpart outlined China’s plan to boost its high-quality belt-road initiative and needed the island’s cooperation for it. 

During bilateral discussions between the representatives of the two nations (during this visit) there were the signing of cooperation documents which included an agreement to help Sri Lanka export agriculture products to China.  

This is the time for AKD to strike while the iron is hot! China is more eager to continue being the nation that supports and aids Sri Lanka which easily supersedes the eagerness shown by the island nation to rebuild its fallen economy. China is still far away from Sri Lanka compared to India distance wise, but it has the skills to pull at the heart strings of the Sri Lankan president by whispering inspirational tales of socialism.