Xi offers Sri Lanka $403m grant in charm offensive

COLOMBO • Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered Sri Lanka a fresh grant of two billion yuan (S$403 million), as Beijing tries to expand its influence in the island off India's southern tip.

President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka, a partner in Beijing's multi-country Belt and Road infrastructure push, made the announcement last Saturday at a ceremony to mark the start of construction of a Chinese-funded kidney hospital in his home constituency of Polonnaruwa, 230km from the capital Colombo.

"When the Chinese Ambassador visited my house to fix the date for this ceremony, he said that Chinese President Xi Jinping sent me another gift," Mr Sirisena told the gathering.

"He has gifted two billion yuan to be utilised for any project of my wish. I'm going to hand over a proposal to the Chinese Ambassador to build houses in all the electorates in the country," he added.

Reuters could not immediately contact officials from the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka for comment.

The grant offer comes at a time when a Chinese firm is facing heavy criticism for allegedly financing the last election campaign of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Last month, the New York Times reported that China Harbour Engineering Company gave US$7.6 million (S$10.4 million) for Mr Rajapaksa's re-election bid, which he lost to Mr Sirisena in early 2015.

Mr Rajapaksa, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo and state-owned China Harbour Engineering have all denied the allegation, but Mr Sirisena's coalition government held a Parliament debate last Thursday over the report and called for an investigation into the alleged funding.

Mr Sirisena had at the start of his term suspended most of the Chinese-backed infrastructure projects started under Mr Rajapaksa over suspected corruption and overpricing, and for flouting government procedures.

But more than a year later, the Sirisena government allowed Chinese projects to resume after a few changes in some of them.

China was among the first countries that stepped in to help the reconstruction of Sri Lanka after a 26-year civil war ended in 2009.

Many of Beijing's projects, backed by loans from the Chinese government and initiated by Mr Rajapaksa's government, have faced opposition in Sri Lanka amid concerns raised by the United States, India and Japan that China might use Sri Lanka as a military base.Both the Sri Lankan government and Chinese Embassy in Colombo have denied any plans to use a southern port, now run by a Chinese firm, for military purposes.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 23, 2018, with the headline Xi offers Sri Lanka $403m grant in charm offensive. Subscribe