Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, October 24: At a time when the US-led western block is in knots in the Middle East, China has made swift moves in the affairs of India’s immediate neighbours in the last one week. While Maldives voted for ‘Oust India’ campaigner Mohammad Muizzu, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kumar Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Sri Lankan President Ranil Vickremesinghe have been served with charm offensives Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled his vision for ‘smart and small’ theme for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been slammed by the economists globally for its accompanying debt-trap net for the nations. Italy affirmed the growing concerns of the BRI by walking out of the ambitious Chinese project.
China is trumpeting the virtues of BRI and countering the claims that it’s a debt trap diplomacy of Beijing. China is amplifying defence of the BRI by Prof. Kishore Mahbubabi of the Asia Research Institute. “When they pour poison on the BRI, they are at the same time insulting the intelligence of the billions who have signed up for the BRI,” said Prof. Mahbubabi while making pro-BRI remarks when he was warmly hosted by China during the launch of his book ‘The Asian Century’ while also claiming that the world should be in gratitude for Beijing for building infrastructure that would cut down on inter-continental migration.
Xi’s BRI charm offensive now has Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka once more presenting cheer leaders. Xi and the Chinese premier Li Qiang warmly hosted Prachanda when he visited the Communist country for the Asian Games. “This visit injected strong impetus into high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and accelerating the construction of China-Nepal Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network. The two countries expressed their commitment to accelerating the consultations to finalise the text on the BRI Implementation Plan at an early date and promoting connectivity in various fields,” wrote Chinese ambassador in Kathmandu Chen Song in ‘The Rising Nepal’.
China has also brought a major relief to Sri Lanka by restructuring the debt, stated to be over 20 per cent of the foreign loan portfolio, while Beijing has reportedly been pressuring Vickremesinghe to hand over new ports and power projects as part of the debt to equity conversion exercise. By docking spy ships regularly at the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and eyeing more ports and power projects, China is seeking to make a quick diplomatic entry in Colombo after India’s largest ever foreign assistance of $4 billion bailed out the island nation last year.
Additionally, China as part of the BRI has begun talking to Myanmar to bring rail connectivity to India’s border while Beijing has impressed upon Prachanda to work expeditiously on rail link to Kathmandu. This is besides Pakistan seeking a fresh $6 billion form China for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
China has made fast-paced moves to further ‘encircle India’ project at a time when the US-led western bloc is seen latching on to the tail of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who made a sensational claim in parliament that there are “credible allegations against the involvement of the Government of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar”. While the diplomatic community argues that Trudeau factor is a dampener in India’s deepening ties with the US and others, Beijing appears making a windfall gain – diplomatically.
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