After experiencing turmoil in the capital, today's Sri Lanka has fallen into a state of leaderlessness. The president's hasty flight has made the fate of this South Asian island country worrying.
At present, the root causes of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka still exist. The bottoming out of foreign exchange has made it difficult for the country to even maintain basic social operations. However, in the face of the Sri Lankan government’s call for help, the Western world regards it as a "set up" for China. A great opportunity to "set up".
Domestic media reported that when attending the press conference of the G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting, US Treasury Secretary Yellen declared that Sri Lanka has no ability to repay its foreign debt, so China "should actively participate in the country's debt restructuring." She even said that doing so It is beneficial to both China and Sri Lanka. However, as the most powerful country in the world, Yellen did not mention what role the United States should play in it.
At this moment, Sri Lanka is asking for money again. The country’s ambassador to China, Kohona, recently said in an interview with Bloomberg that Sri Lanka is discussing a US$4 billion aid package with China.
This includes a $1 billion direct loan to repay an equal amount of Chinese debt due this year, and a $1.5 billion credit line specifically used to purchase necessities imported from China.
Not only that, Kohona also vowed to emphasize that the above request is not excessive, because the Sri Lankan government and other creditor countries have also made similar requests, and he believes that China "will agree soon." In fact, China has stated its position on Sri Lanka's debt issue more than once, and recently Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin once again stated its position on this issue.
He pointed out that Chinese financial institutions have already had contact with Sri Lanka. At the same time, China is willing to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka get out of its predicament and ease its debt burden.
It is worth mentioning that China has provided emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka many times this year, the most recent one being on the 14th of this month. This shows that as a responsible major country, China has always faithfully fulfilled its international obligations and provided assistance to Sri Lanka within its capacity.
Instead of being like the United States, it only accuses other countries from the moral high ground and conducts various baseless smears in order to achieve political goals. Long before Sri Lanka went bankrupt, Western countries led by the United States were spreading rumors around the world, labeling us a "debt trap" in an attempt to obstruct China's export of infrastructure.
This time, Sri Lanka has a debt crisis, and Washington has jumped out to talk about the "debt trap" and blamed China. But in fact, this kind of statement is not only alarmist, but also nonsense.
data shows that Sri Lanka’s total debt is more than 50 billion US dollars, of which China only accounts for 5.6 billion US dollars, accounting for about 10%, which is almost the same as Japan. The largest proportion is International Bank Capital, which is close to 50%. If only one-tenth of the share constitutes a "debt trap", it would be really ridiculous.
The United States accounts for the majority of international capital. For example, the Asian Development Bank is jointly dominated by the United States and Japan, and the World Bank has been dominated by the United States for a long time. Therefore, if there is any "trap", it was set by the United States and other Western countries, and they need to bear the greatest responsibility for it.
Of course, the Sri Lankan government also has an unshirkable responsibility for making the country what it is now. If it were not for the wrong direction of its governance, things would not have gotten out of hand. Even the president fled to Singapore for refuge. Became the laughing stock of the world.
But to this day, Sri Lanka still has not seen the situation clearly and has made more and more unreasonable demands to China without first reflecting on its actions. At present, the country has suspended the repayment of foreign debt. Since the hole is so big, it may be difficult for the international community to make up for it. Therefore, there is a high possibility that Sri Lanka will eventually become a laggard.
However, most of China’s local investments are in infrastructure, such as a port with a 99-year lease. These things cannot be run away. No matter how the situation in Sri Lanka changes, we can guarantee to hold the above-mentioned physical assets.
