China-Sri Lanka Cooperation: News & Discussions

[GS Zhou]

@waz @Hu Songshan sirs, this thread has been too much off topic. Can we delete the unnecessary part? many thanks.

 

[Godman]

Sri Lanka PM and Megapolis Minister in Chinese Infrastructure tour

Visiting the Global Shopping Complex in Chongqing city, the General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum, and the home and office premises of China's very first Prime Minister, Hon. Zhou En

 

[Godman]

met with Mr. Huang Qifan, the Mayor of Chongqing city in Southwest China at the Wudu Hotel.

During the discussion that ensued, he pledged his full support in the plan to make Sri Lanka an economic hub in South Asia, and stated that best efforts would be lent to help create a conducive environment to encourage investors as well.

 

[OrionHunter]

What is 'Megapolis' minister??? Sounds mega silly!

 

[Godman]

What is 'Megapolis' minister??? Sounds mega silly!

It's the minister of Megapolis and Western Region development. People just call him the megapolis minister
http://www.megapolis.gov.lk/pdf/Megapolis Master Plan_April2016/WRMPP_MasterPlan_Eng_Apr16.pdf

They are currently touring countries. The PM previously toured Singapore during his visit to begin FTA talks. But China is a big country with lots if infrastructure structure and urban development which needs to be explored so such things can be also done in SL. So he is currently visiting China for just that

Visiting an Industrial Park where Chinese officials explain about the plans

Harbor and container terminal in Chongqing

 

[NGV-H]

Sorry I think I created a repost of this in the South Asia forums! Even though this seems too good to be true, China has excess industrial capacity that isn't being used at home. For example they have the capacity to produce 30% more steel than they can export or use internally without depreciating the price of steel. If this production overcapacity is used to help build markets that they can export to in the future (which is part of their Central Asia gameplan in the Belt of the Belt-and-Road initiative) it's a win-win for both parties.

 

[Place Of Space]

Sorry I think I created a repost of this in the South Asia forums! Even though this seems too good to be true, China has excess industrial capacity that isn't being used at home. For example they have the capacity to produce 30% more steel than they can export or use internally without depreciating the price of steel. If this production overcapacity is used to help build markets that they can export to in the future (which is part of their Central Asia gameplan in the Belt of the Belt-and-Road initiative) it's a win-win for both parties.

I read a news last year, one Chinese private steel manufacturer invested in Egypt for about 6 years, now the factory there grows at hundred percent anually. Their Arabic partner was once a middle man of exporting architecture stones to China.

 

[Gibbs]

China, Sri Lanka vow to deepen cooperation within Belt and Road framework

Source: Xinhua | 2016-10-17 04:58:35 | Editor: huaxia

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in the western Indian state of Goa, Oct. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

GOA, India, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday, vowing to deepen bilateral pragmatic cooperation within the Belt and Road framework.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the eighth BRICS summit in the western Indian state of Goa.

China-Sri Lanka relations have seen positive and healthy development momentum, said Xi, noting that China will work with Sri Lanka to carry forward the traditional friendship cultivated by generations.

Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as well as the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Agreement on Rice for Rubber, he said, calling on the two sides to take the opportunity to cement traditional friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to lift bilateral ties to a new high.

In 1952, Sri Lanka withstood the pressure from the United States and other Western countries and signed the famous rice and rubber agreement with new China, and in doing so, opening a chapter in the history of friendly exchanges between the two countries.

To further their relations, Xi suggested the two sides maintain high-level contacts and political communication, and continue to show mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests.

China appreciates Sri Lanka's support for and active participation in the Belt and Road construction, said Xi.

He called on the two sides to deepen cooperation in the sectors of trade, port operation, infrastructure construction, port-vicinity industrial parks, production capacity and people's livelihood.

He said the two sides should continue to advance their mega cooperative projects such as the Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port.

Xi voiced hope that the two sides will make good preparations for the activities celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties and encourage more exchanges among all sectors of society, including local affairs, Buddhist community, youth, think-tanks and media.

The Chinese president also suggested the two sides expand cooperation in the fields of tourism, ocean, security and disaster preparedness and mitigation.

He said the two countries should enhance coordination within multi-lateral frameworks and continue to support each other in international and regional affairs.

For his part, Sirisena said the time-tested relations between the two countries have gained a stronger momentum under the new situation.

He thanked China's assistance for Sri Lanka's development as well as China's support to his country on the international arena.

Sri Lanka adheres to the one-China policy and is willing to strengthen coordination and communication with China in international and regional affairs, he added.

Sirisena said Sri Lanka is willing to speed up the implementation of relevant economic and trade agreements with China as well as cooperation on maga projects. He welcomed Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is a member of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), a regional mechanism that is aimed at connecting South Asian and Southeast Asian countries and also groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand.

On the margins of the BRICS summit in Goa, Xi and other BRICS leaders held dialogues with the BIMSTEC leaders and representatives.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in the western Indian state of Goa, Oct. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/17/c_135758620_2.htm

 

[onebyone]

Exclusive: How China-Sri Lanka Relations Are Getting New Wings

BY DEBASISH ROY CHOWDHURY
3 DEC 2016
26 SHARE

Sri Lanka will buy more military transport planes from China and seek its help in transforming its failed Hambantota port into a hub comparable with Shenzhen, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview.

“I have travelled around in some of the Chinese transport planes we have. They are good workhorses. Some people have raised questions about their quality but I have always said, ‘Look, as far as I am concerned, I will always underwrite Chinese military transport planes’. We will buy two more,” Wickremesinghe said.

Passive investor to partner in crime: How China lost the plot in Sri Lanka

China’s newly developed Xian Y-20 would be in contention if Sri Lanka is looking to buy more Chinese military transport craft, making it one of the first countries outside China to get the new plane. That would mark a new high for Sino-Sri Lankan relations that have been on the mend since Wickremesinghe’s government put the brakes on big-ticket Chinese projects soon after it came to power ousting pro-China president Mahinda Rajapaksa in January last year.

“Logically it makes sense for Sri Lanka to buy strategic transport aircraft because the old ones are not serviceable in a cost-effective manner,” said IHS Jane’s aerospace analyst Ben Moores, but added it wouldn’t come cheap.

Codenamed “Kunpeng” after a mythical Chinese bird, Y-20 makes China the third nation after Russia and the United States to design and develop its own heavy military transport aircraft. It is the largest military aircraft currently in production and the first cargo aircraft to use 3D printing technology. It was officially inducted into service by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in July.

Chinese and Indian fighter jets face off amid regional turf war

“The only thing is getting the US federal aviation clearance, without which there might be insurance issues for Western tourists. Since our airports have excess capacity, we will try to get dual-use military planes that can also carry tourists. We are talking to the Chinese to see if we can get planes that can conform to these norms,” Wickremesinghe said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. Photo: AFP
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. Photo: AFP

The prime minister, however, wouldn’t let on which way he is swinging with fighter jets. Colombo was expected to sign a deal to purchase up to 12 JF-17s co-developed by Pakistan and China in January. The deal was cancelled after intense diplomatic manoeuvres by India, which has been trying to sell its own Tejas to the strategically located Indian Ocean island nation.

“China, India, Sweden and Russia have made offers, we are studying them,” he said.

India had been concerned about an increasing Chinese presence in Sri Lanka since two Chinese submarine calls in Colombo last year. The incident was the final straw in India’s relations with Rajapaksa, whose China tilt had strained his ties with New Delhi, which worked behind the scenes to unite a fractured opposition and pave the way for the unity government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

Let bygones be bygones, Colombo urges Beijing, as Chinese loans take their toll

The new government set out by putting on hold several projects it saw as Rajapaksa’s white elephants bankrolled by China. But need for Chinese investments and a crushing debt burden – created partly by billions of dollars of Chinese loans for infrastructure projects – has softened the government’s initial anti-Chinese stance.

Work on US$1.4 billion Colombo Port City, a development project off Colombo, among the first projects the government pulled, recently resumed after protracted negotiations. “There is no financial hub between Singapore and Dubai. Colombo Port City will fill that void,” Wickremesinghe said.



The government has also decided to give 80 per cent of Hambantota deep sea port on a Hong Kong-style 99-year lease to China Merchants Holdings for US$1.1 billion. Built and financed by the Chinese, this US$1.5 billion port has been a commercial failure, getting hardly any ships.

For the Chinese, Hambantota and a Colombo port terminal, also built by China Merchants, are among the main attractions of Sri Lanka – which sits bang in middle of the principal east-west sea lines of communication connecting China to the main oil exporters in the Middle East and Africa. That makes Sri Lanka a key component of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy of integrating the regional economy through infrastructure development.

Sri Lanka looks to China to buoy sinking port

Leasing the port, which alone has been costing US$147 million a year in debt repayment, will help ease the external debt load of US$64.9 billion. Sri Lanka’s foreign debt soared from 36 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 94 per cent last year. Debt repayment is sucking up around 95 per cent of all government revenue, with a third of all earnings estimated to be servicing Chinese debt. As a result, Sri Lanka recently had to resort to a US$1.5 billion IMF bailout.



Wickremesinghe, however, believes he can make Hambantota work – as well as Shenzhen, in fact. “When we took over, the port couldn’t even meet the recurring expenses, let alone debt repayment. We had a long discussion with the Chinese government over turning around this white elephant. A plan was drawn up for the industrialisation of Hambantota, including freeing up to 50 sq km of land for an industrial estate for Chinese companies. The Chinese side proposed a refinery, an LNG and cement plant, and a dockyard. China Merchants has asked for land to develop backward logistics as they have done in Shenzhen,” he said.

Why a Chinese port operator is a key player in Indian cargo

But surely Hambantota, in the southern tip of Sri Lanka and in one of the most backward areas of the country, cannot match Shenzhen’s locational advantage?

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopo...ina-sri-lanka-relations-are-getting-new-wings

 

[Jlaw]

Wow I'm seeing a lot better news articles coming out if SCMP recently. Look like the takeover by Jack Ma is finally paying dividends

 

[Devil Soul]

Sri Lanka to sell loss-making port to China
Home / World / Sri Lanka to sell loss-making port to China
By AFP
December 14, 2016
Latest : World

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COLOMBO: Sri Lanka hopes to sell part of its loss-making $1.4 billion harbour to a Chinese company in January to help pay off crippling debts, the ports minister said Wednesday.

Arjuna Ranatunga said talks were under way with China Merchants Port Holdings to transfer an 80 percent stake in the Hambantota port on a long lease.

"We hope to be able to raise about $1.12 billion and a deal could be struck by the first week of January," Ranatunga told reporters in Colombo.

The new government, which came to power in January last year, has been trying to renegotiate terms of its $8 billion Chinese debt, which includes the construction costs of the Hambantota port.

The former administration relied heavily on China to build ports, highways and railways as Western nations shunned it over its dismal human rights record.

The new government secured a $1.5 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in June after facing a balance of payments crisis and has also negotiated cheaper funding from international lenders.

Ranatunga said the Chinese had initially wanted the port on a 199-year lease.
"First they wanted it for 199 years, then brought it down to 99 years, but I am thinking around 50 years," he said, adding that a final agreement could be signed in January.

Some 480 temporary dock workers at the port in Hambantota, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, have been on strike since December 6 demanding that they be absorbed into the main port-owning company ahead of any sale to the Chinese.

Ranatunga said he had given strikers a Thursday deadline to report back to work or lose their jobs.

Sri Lanka´s navy opened fire at the port on Saturday to disperse strikers who had blocked a Japanese vehicle carrier from leaving the port.

The minister said the strikers had also sabotaged facilities at the port, where there were currently no foreign vessels.

 

[HeinzG]

Stupid move. Most of the Sri Lankans are angry about the current developments. There will be massive protests and severe political backlash if the deal is signed.

 

[Qutb-ud-din Aybak]

Stupid move. Most of the Sri Lankans are angry about the current developments. There will be massive protests and severe political backlash if the deal is signed.

it will help you better run and develop the port.

 

[extra terrestrial]

Such a strategic port... How could it be loss-making? Lack of proper promotions?

 

[Nike]

the answer is simple, the economic weight of Sri Lanka is beyond the capacity of this port. Meanwhile Sri Lanka doesnt have what it takes to become regional hub like what Singapore has and offer. Not to speak the lack of economic cooperation between Countries in South Asia unlike what ASEAN had