China can extend Hambantota port lease to 198 years, Sri Lankan minister says

Beijing denies the deal is being renegotiated after reports that Colombo is revisiting the agreement

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the previous government had agreed to a 99-year lease with the option of another 99 years

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China signed a deal to lease the Hambantota port, located at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, in 2017. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00am, 25 Feb 2021Updated: 12:04pm, 25 Feb 2021

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said the 99-year lease of the Hambantota port to China could be extended to 198 years, calling it a “mistake” made by the previous government, after reports that Colombo was revisiting the agreement.

The port deal – signed in 2017 by the previous Sri Lankan government to cover its debts to China – has been the subject of intense international scrutiny amid accusations Beijing is using “debt trap diplomacy” for geopolitical clout.

Hambantota’s location at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, overlooking South Asia’s vital sea lanes, makes it a potential key maritime hub in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, younger brother of two-time former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he wanted to renegotiate the deal with China soon after he took office in late 2019, but later denied he had such a plan.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is said to be revisiting the port deal with China. Photo: Xinhua

However, on February 6 the chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority told Ceylon Today that the president was revisiting the port deal. General Daya Ratnayake also said Sri Lanka had not gained much from the agreement and that it had relocated its naval base from the area controlled by China “after many discussions with the Chinese officials”.

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