The United States is urging Sri Lanka to make “difficult but necessary decisions” to ensure its economic independence rather than choose opaque practices, a senior State Department official said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to China deepening its influence over the United States. South Asian country.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Sri Lanka next week as part of a larger trip that includes India, the Maldives and Indonesia with the main goal of gaining support to counter China.
Pompeo’s trip comes a week before the November 3 US election, in which President Donald Trump has made tough on China a key part of his campaign to secure a second term. He has blamed China for mishandling the spread of the coronavirus that has killed 221,000 people in the United States and more than 1.1 million worldwide.
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Pompeo and other top US officials have maintained tough rhetoric on China, dismissing Beijing’s investments around the world as “debt diplomacy,” claiming it leaves the poorest nations burdened with too much debt.
In a telephone briefing with journalists, without explicitly naming China, US officials warned the Sri Lankan government about who they are allying with for their economic partnerships.
“We encourage Sri Lanka to review the options we offer for transparent and sustainable economic development in contrast to discriminatory and opaque practices,” said Dean Thompson, Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Office of South and Central Asian Affairs. .
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