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China plans naval base in Sri Lanka in return for aid and UN support
On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the worlds busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line. This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects Chinas supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West. Even India, Sri Lankas long-time ally and the traditionally dominant power in South Asia, has found itself sidelined in the past two years to its obvious irritation. China is fishing in troubled waters, Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indias Home Minister, warned last week. The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a string of pearls strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma. Chinas aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost $1 billion last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain just £1.25 million. Posted by: gromky 2009-05-05 |
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