“The Chinese have a lot of influence and they can make their investments very attractive,” said the head of the American intelligence agency, Bill Burns, at the Aspen Security Forum, in Colorado.
Other countries should watch the situation “of a country like Sri Lanka today, heavily indebted to China, and which has made some really stupid bets on its economic future, thereby suffering both economic and catastrophic policies”, he analyzed.
Bill Burns added that the crisis in Sri Lanka should serve as a lesson, “not just in the Middle East or South Asia, but around the world, to keep your eyes open about these kinds of transactions”. .
China has invested heavily in Sri Lanka, strategically placed in the Indian Ocean just off India, often seen as a rival to Beijing. She also worked closely with the now ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Expensive infrastructure
The latter resigned last week after fleeing his country ravaged by an economic crisis that is causing shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
Sri Lanka has borrowed heavily from China for infrastructure projects, which for some have turned out to be very expensive and of no real public utility. In 2017, the country found itself unable to repay a $1.4 billion loan for the construction of a port in southern Sri Lanka, and was forced to hand over the lease of the site to a Chinese company for 99 years.
Near the port is also Rajapaksa Airport, built with a $200 million loan from China, but whose low usage at one time prevented it from being profitable enough to cover its electricity bill. electricity.
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