Newshub18 :Sri Lanka tells India that there is no reason to worry about Chinese ships.
India has expressed concern over the presence of a Chinese ship in the Sri Lankan seaport. According to Delhi, the Chinese vessel has come to Sri Lanka for espionage purposes. However, Colombo has rejected such allegations of India. The Sri Lankan government said on Tuesday that the Chinese ship had arrived to pick up fuel and logisticsChinese research and survey vessel Yuan Wang-5 anchored at Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka last Monday. The ship can stay at the Chinese-controlled port until August 11, according to the Marine Traffic website.
The presence of the ship in Sri Lanka has been reported by the Indian media. According to these reports, the ship is involved in secret espionage work for the Chinese government. That is why it came to Sri Lanka. Indian officials have expressed concern in Colombo over the ship’s presence.
Rejecting India’s concerns in this regard, Sri Lankan government spokesperson Bandula Gunawardene said that the cabinet discussed the Chinese ship’s arrival in Sri Lanka. The ship with the permission of the government
Bandula Gunawardene also said, ‘China and India, both countries have helped us in difficult times. Both countries are our important friends. Therefore, President Ranil Wickramasinghe has instructed to deal with the issue of the presence of the Chinese ship in a diplomatic way.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment, Manutha Nanayakara, told reporters that Chinese survey ships have visited Sri Lanka several times before. This time the ship came only to pick up logistics and fuel.
Only last week India had conveyed its concerns to the Sri Lankan government through diplomatic channels. However, the Indian High Commission in Colombo did not respond after dismissing the concerns. India is already concerned about China’s growing influence in neighboring Sri Lanka.
Earlier in 2014, Delhi reacted strongly to the presence of two Chinese submarines in Sri Lankan waters. Since then, the presence of Chinese submarines in Sri Lanka has never been known. However, Sri Lanka has leased the Hambantota port to China for 99 years.
Now Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis since independence. It has spread to the country’s public life and politics. President Gotabaya Rajapakse was recently forced to resign and leave the country in the face of massive protests. He is now in Singapore. Earlier, his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned. A new government was formed in the country under the leadership of Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Even the fall of the influential Rajapakse family, known as pro-China, did not end Sri Lanka’s crisis. Bankrupt Sri Lanka has approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get financial assistance to repay the foreign debt of 5 thousand billion dollars and return to normalcy. Apart from this, President Ranil has started talks with the opposition to form an all-party government in the country