Aid for Lanka: Another war of words between the US and China
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a trip to Beijing after a Chinese “spy balloon” was tracked over the US.
It was a visit during which Mr. Blinken was expected to take up Sri Lanka’s debt woes with President Xi Jingping, according to a top US official who was in Sri Lanka this week.
Victoria Nuland, US UnderSecretary of State for Political Affairs, while in Colombo on an official visit this week, told President Ranil Wickremesinghe that Mr. Blinken would raise the outstanding matter of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring with the Chinese President--an issue which China had a key role to play.
The US had been increasingly vocal on the subject, with Ms. Nuland telling reporters in Colombo, that China must provide credible and specific assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so Sri Lanka could benefit from a bailout.
“What China has offered so far is not enough,” she was quoted as saying. “We need to see credible and specific assurances that China will meet the IMF standard of debt relief.”
“We, the United States, are prepared to do our part. Our Paris Club partners are prepared to do their part. India has made strong commitments that it will provide the credible assurances the IMF is looking for,” she said.
The Sunday Times recently reported that China’s Exim bank had offered Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson responded sharply to Ms. Nuland’s comments at a subsequent media conference this week.
“Rather than jabbing fingers at China’s close cooperation with Sri Lanka, the US might as well show some sincerity and actually do something to help Sri Lanka weather through the current difficulties,” Mao Ning was reported as saying.
“What was said by the US side does not reflect the truth. The Export-Import Bank of China has already provided Sri Lanka with the letter to express support for its debt sustainability. Sri Lanka has responded positively and thanked China for that,” she said.
China and the US had often engaged in bitter wars of words over Sri Lanka.