Exclusive | Sri Lanka is not renegotiating Hambantota port lease deal with China, ambassador says
- If there are talks going on, the two sides are ‘whispering … so that nobody else hears’, Palitha Kohona says
- Envoy also denies claims Sri Lanka is sliding into a debt trap, saying China accounts for just 10 per cent of its outstanding borrowing
Palitha Kohona said in an interview that his country would “never be an unsinkable aircraft carrier posing a threat to anyone else”, referring to China’s ongoing power struggles with the United States and India.
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. Colombo agreed to hand over the running of the port in 2017 when it was unable to make the repayments on the Chinese loans used to develop it.
“If there is a negotiation, it’s very secretive and nobody would say it to you. They are whispering to each other so that nobody else hears it,” Kohona said.
He was responding to a question about reports that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was revisiting the deal with China.
“No, I think it’s absolutely rubbish,” he said.