Sri Lanka's China envoy condemns Western imperialists, gloats over 'belt and road'
From Kapila Bandara in Hong Kong
Sri Lanka's envoy to China has denounced Western imperialists for exploiting countries they occupied and drawn a shar p contrast with Beijing's honourable behaviour as a great world benefactor.
In an “exclusive'' interview with Communist China's state news agency, Xinhua, Dr Karunasena Kodituwakku, said this week, China's 'belt and road' initiative for shared prosperity is worthy of admiration by Sri Lankans.
“We admire it, we must support it, and we must cooperate with it,” he told Xinhua on Tuesday.
“If you look at the history of the past two to three centuries the imperial powers of the West exploited occupied countries, whatever they could gain from those countries were used only to improve the living conditions of their own people,” Xinhua cited him as saying. “But the contrast in China’s Belt and Road Initiative is that it is a shared future. China is interested not only in the Chinese economy and its people but also the other economies and peoples of those countries.”
Xinhua said that the “remarkable vision of building a community with shared future for mankind proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping means sharing the prosperity among countries and peoples. This message gives a new hope to many developing countries, said Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku.''
Xinhua said Kodituwakku “spoke highly of the belt and road ini- tiative which helps translate Xi’s broad vision into practice by providing opportunities in investment, technology transfer and access to global market ( sic).''
“No other global power was prepared to come forward to provide such opportunities in this magnitude. Under the belt and road Initiative, President Xi Jinping has come forward to do that,” he stressed, Xinhua reports.
Regardless of Kodituwakku's glowing praise, the world's leading economies, the United States, Canada, Japan and India have not joined the Chinese initiative.
Distrust of the plan has been rising. Australia, a strong US ally, is wary. There are doubts about transparency and the commercial viability of projects and there are suspicions about phony deals.
Many nations are also suspicious that Beijing is merely advancing its geopolitical interests and growing its economic leverage through the 'belt and road' – in effect, a smokescreen for pushing its self-interest.
India has criticised Beijng's projects for “overriding sovereignty” of other countries.
There are suspicions that the idea is a ruse to export China's polluting industries and overcapacity in some sectors.
Referring to creditor China's influence in Sri Lanka, Kodituwakku tells Xinhua:
“Now China has become the most important development partner for us in investment, foreign trade, and tourism and even in the field of technology transfer.''
Xinhua s ay s t h at “according to him, China has been creating two important development hubs in Sri Lanka under t he Belt and Ro a d Initiative, one in Colombo, the other in Hambantota.''
Xinhua also says: The project under construction in Colombo will elevate the port city into an international service hub not only for Sri Lanka, but also for South Asia, mainly focusing as an international financial city such as Hong Kong and Dubai.''
Xinhua adds: Wi t h China’s participation in building the industrial hub at Hambantota Port, Sri Lanka will become an important logistic platform for South Asia, Southeast Asia and even to serve East Africa and the Middle East.
The ambassador also mentioned the free- trade ag reement cur re n t ly under negotiation between Sri Lanka and China, Xinhua reports.
“By signing a free- trade agreement, we hope that we will be able to have continuously sustainable trade between the two countries,” he said.
In addition, the ambassador is very happy to see Sri Lanka g row i n g increasingly popular among Chinese tourists, Xinhua says.
He promised that Sri Lanka could provide good beaches, wildlife, cultural tourism, shopping and leisure, meditation and spas for overseas tourists.
Xinhua says the “ambassador conveyed his best wishes'' for the annual sessions of the National People's Congress on Monday, “and looked forward to seeing how China plans to further share prosperity and create a better world for all of us.''