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SRILANKA-US-CHINA-DIPLOMACY
Sri Lanka negotiating military deal with the US: PM
COLOMBO, July 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lanka is negotiating a fresh
military cooperation deal with the United States, its Prime Minister
announced in parliament Wednesday, even as the country’s president vowed to
veto any agreement.
Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government was discussing a replacement for
a 1995 Status of Forces (SOFA) arrangement that would allow the militaries of
the two countries to access each other’s ports and airports with fewer
formalities.
The prime minister said negotiations were ongoing as the new document
contained provisions Sri Lanka was “not able to accept”, without elaborating
on what they were.
His comments came days after President Maithripala Sirisena said he would
not let the government headed by his pro-West arch-rival conclude any deal
giving US forces freer access to Sri Lanka.
“I will not allow the SOFA that seeks to betray the nation. Some foreign
forces want to make Sri Lanka one of their bases. I will not allow them to
come into the country and challenge our sovereignty,” Sirisena, who faces an
election this year, said at a rally last weekend.
The United States last year granted $39 million for maritime security to
Sri Lanka as China develops its strategic hold in the region.
US concern has increased as China steps up investment in ports and other
projects on the island, which is a key link in Beijing’s ambitious “Belt and
Road” infrastructure initiative.
China has vowed to keep providing financial help, including loans, to Sri
Lanka despite warnings about the nation’s mounting debt.
Sri Lanka in 2017 gave a 99-year lease on a strategic port to Beijing
because it could not repay Chinese loans for the $1.4 billion project.
Hambantota port straddles the world’s busiest east-west shipping route and
also gives a strategic foothold to China in a region long dominated by India.
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