India and China Engage in War of Words Over Sri Lanka – The Diplomat

Though the Chinese language ship Yuan Wang 5 departed from Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on August 22, the controversy over its docking continues to roil the waters across the Indian Ocean island.

Final week, Chinese language and Indian diplomats in Colombo engaged in a disagreement over the vessel’s controversial go to to Sri Lanka.

A signed article by Chinese language Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong revealed in Sri Lanka Guardian on August 26 set off the Sino-Indian sparring. Within the article, Qi claimed that China and Sri Lanka had collectively “resisted the impolite and unreasonable interference from third events” to dam the docking of Yuan Wang 5 on the island.

The Yuan Wang 5 was to dock at Hambantota Port between August 11 and 17, ostensibly for “replenishment [of supplies], together with gasoline.” The Sri Lankan authorities had permitted this initially. Nonetheless, following “issues” raised by India – studies within the Indian media warned of the ship’s potential use by the Chinese language for surveilling protection installations in southern India — Sri Lanka withdrew its approval for the ship’s berthing just some days forward of its arrival, and requested Beijing to defer the go to “till additional consultations.”

Excessive-level consultations between Chinese language and Sri Lankan officers adopted. These culminated in Sri Lanka allowing the Yuan Wang 5 to dock at Hambantota Port between August 16 and 22.

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In his article, Qi slammed India for pressuring Sri Lanka to name off the Chinese language ship go to. It’s “at all times” making “numerous groundless excuses to bully Sri Lanka and trample on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence repeatedly,” he mentioned. He additionally pointed to a historical past of aggression from the island’s “northern neighbor.”

The Indian Excessive Fee in Colombo clapped again instantly. In a series of tweets, it criticized Qi for “violation of primary diplomatic etiquette.” It blamed China’s “opaqueness and debt pushed agendas” for Sri Lanka’s present financial disaster and went on to level out that “#SriLanka wants assist, not undesirable stress or pointless controversies to serve one other nation’s agenda,” a dig at China’s reluctance to assist Sri Lanka come out of its financial disaster.

In contrast to China which has offered Sri Lanka with little assist to take care of the financial disaster, India has prolonged the island loans, traces of credit score and humanitarian help value $3.8 billion since early this yr. This has helped New Delhi regain affect in Sri Lanka, primarily within the type of public goodwill.

Nonetheless, as Sri Lankan selections over the Yuan Wang 5’s docking at Hambantota Port indicated, Beijing’s grip over Colombo has not weakened.

The Sino-Indian face-off over the Yuan Wang 5 go to was a victory for China. In spite of everything, the Chinese language ship was capable of berth at Hambantota Port finally, even when restrictions on its exercise there that Sri Lanka reportedly imposed might have restricted advantages from any snooping it could have hoped to interact in whereas docked on the port.

The Chinese language did endure a setback within the preliminary phases of the Yuan Wang 5 controversy, when Colombo withdrew its approval of the ship’s docking on the island. This riled the Chinese language, who had been “particularly indignant as a result of approval was granted after which it was withdrawn,” Nikkei Asia quoted a Sri Lankan overseas ministry official as saying.

It was a lack of face for China. This was the second time in lower than a yr that Sri Lanka had slighted the Chinese language, the primary being in October final yr when the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration rejected 20,000 tons of natural fertilizer shipped by a Chinese language firm.

That tiny and bankrupt Sri Lanka, which owes China billions of {dollars}, dared to uninvite the Chinese language ship would have been significantly galling to the Chinese language. That it did so on nudging from India would have added insult to harm. A rising energy, China couldn’t be seen to be not responding to the slight.

At conferences in Beijing and Colombo, the Chinese language adopted a tricky stance. They reportedly warned their Sri Lankan counterparts that calling off the ship go to would impression their selections on the restructuring of Sri Lankan loans — Sri Lanka owes China an estimated $1.5 to $2 billion in debt reimbursement this yr – and ongoing bilateral talks referring to a $4 billion support package deal and a free commerce settlement.

Sri Lankan economists have identified that the nation “can’t get out of this disaster with out China.” This realization is prone to have prompted the Sri Lankans to heed the Chinese language officers’ warnings and re-invite the Yuan Wang 5.

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For China, docking on the Hambantota Port was essential not for replenishment of provides and even snooping on India. It was essential to sign to India and the world that Beijing’s clout in Sri Lanka has not diminished and that China has pursuits and affect within the Indian Ocean, which it is going to train as a result of it could actually.

The latest buying and selling of barbs between Indian and Chinese language diplomats in Colombo signifies that the Beijing-Delhi contest for affect in Sri Lanka has gained a recent lease of life.