NEW DELHI: After claiming that the United States and India can jointly deter China’s “tyranny”, the US Secretary of State Mike pompeo brought the Trump administration’s anti-Beijing campaign to two key island nations in the Indian Ocean.
Maldives and Sri Lanka, the two countries considered particularly at risk by what US officials allege is Chinese exploitation, welcomed Pompeo less than a week before the US presidential election in which Donald Trump seeks another term.
In an effort to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka, Pompeo called China’s communist government a “predator” and said the United States’ view of the island nation is “very different” from that of Beijing.
US officials complain that development and infrastructure projects benefit China more than their intended recipients, a refrain Pompeo repeated with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. Pompeo said the country could be “a beacon” for freedom and democracy in the region as long as it retains “full sovereignty.”
“That’s quite a contrast to what China is looking for,” Pompeo said. “The Chinese Communist Party is a predator. America comes in a different way. We come as friends and partners.”
Gunawardena seemed unwilling to get involved in the dispute with China and said Sri Lanka is ready to cooperate with all friendly countries.
“Sri Lanka is a neutral, non-aligned country committed to peace,” he said. “We look forward to continuing our relations with the United States and with other parties.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Colombo responded to Pompeo, tweeting a promotional image for the video game “Aliens vs. Predator.”
“Sorry Mr. Secretary Pompeo, we are busy promoting China-Sri Lanka friendship and cooperation, we are not interested in your invitation to the Alien v Predator game,” it read.
Pompeo, who will also visit Indonesia, will pressure each country to oppose increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it would award Sri Lanka a $ 90 million grant to aid rural development, after President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa sought the help of a visiting Chinese delegation to refute the perception that the mega-projects funded by China they are “debt traps”.
Similarly, the Maldives, a small archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean known for its luxury resorts, faces massive debt of more than $ 1 billion for Chinese infrastructure projects. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has expressed concern about the amount.
China views Sri Lanka and, to a lesser extent, the Maldives, as a critical link in its massive “Belt and Road” global infrastructure construction initiative and has provided billions of dollars in project loans over the past decade. Projects include a seaport, an airport, a port city, roads and power plants in Sri Lanka and roads and bridges in the Maldives.
Critics like the United States say that the projects financed by China are not financially viable and that Sri Lanka and the Maldives will face difficulties repaying the loans.
In 2017, Sri Lanka leased a Chinese-built port located near busy shipping lanes to a Chinese company for 99 years to recover from the heavy burden of repaying the Chinese loan the country received to build it.
Pompeo’s visit to Sri Lanka came after his crucial two-day tour of India, where he and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had stepped up the Trump administration’s anti-China message by playing on Indian suspicions about the Chinese to prop up a regional front against Beijing in the Indo-Pacific.
Maldives and Sri Lanka, the two countries considered particularly at risk by what US officials allege is Chinese exploitation, welcomed Pompeo less than a week before the US presidential election in which Donald Trump seeks another term.
In an effort to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka, Pompeo called China’s communist government a “predator” and said the United States’ view of the island nation is “very different” from that of Beijing.
US officials complain that development and infrastructure projects benefit China more than their intended recipients, a refrain Pompeo repeated with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. Pompeo said the country could be “a beacon” for freedom and democracy in the region as long as it retains “full sovereignty.”
“That’s quite a contrast to what China is looking for,” Pompeo said. “The Chinese Communist Party is a predator. America comes in a different way. We come as friends and partners.”
Gunawardena seemed unwilling to get involved in the dispute with China and said Sri Lanka is ready to cooperate with all friendly countries.
“Sri Lanka is a neutral, non-aligned country committed to peace,” he said. “We look forward to continuing our relations with the United States and with other parties.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Colombo responded to Pompeo, tweeting a promotional image for the video game “Aliens vs. Predator.”
“Sorry Mr. Secretary Pompeo, we are busy promoting China-Sri Lanka friendship and cooperation, we are not interested in your invitation to the Alien v Predator game,” it read.
Pompeo, who will also visit Indonesia, will pressure each country to oppose increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it would award Sri Lanka a $ 90 million grant to aid rural development, after President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa sought the help of a visiting Chinese delegation to refute the perception that the mega-projects funded by China they are “debt traps”.
Similarly, the Maldives, a small archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean known for its luxury resorts, faces massive debt of more than $ 1 billion for Chinese infrastructure projects. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has expressed concern about the amount.
China views Sri Lanka and, to a lesser extent, the Maldives, as a critical link in its massive “Belt and Road” global infrastructure construction initiative and has provided billions of dollars in project loans over the past decade. Projects include a seaport, an airport, a port city, roads and power plants in Sri Lanka and roads and bridges in the Maldives.
Critics like the United States say that the projects financed by China are not financially viable and that Sri Lanka and the Maldives will face difficulties repaying the loans.
In 2017, Sri Lanka leased a Chinese-built port located near busy shipping lanes to a Chinese company for 99 years to recover from the heavy burden of repaying the Chinese loan the country received to build it.
Pompeo’s visit to Sri Lanka came after his crucial two-day tour of India, where he and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had stepped up the Trump administration’s anti-China message by playing on Indian suspicions about the Chinese to prop up a regional front against Beijing in the Indo-Pacific.
In an exclusive Times Now interview earlier, Pompeo had said: “What is very clear now is that there is a battle and the battle in the world is between freedom and authoritarianism and India, like the United States, has chosen democracy. and freedom and sovereignty. and all the things that the people of India care so much about, so when the Chinese Communist Party takes on a transgender, you can be sure that America will stand by as partners. We will do it.”
“We can be force multipliers and deliver really good results not just for the people of India or the Indo-Pacific, but for the whole world,” Pompeo said, indicating America’s support at a time when India faces a major security threat through Chinese Aggression along the Royal Line of Control in eastern Ladakh.
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