India and China traded insults over their diverging interests in Sri Lanka, after a controversial Chinese scientific research shipcalledat the island nation despite New Delhi’s security concerns.
Sri Lanka “needs support, not unwanted pressure or unnecessary controversies to serve another country’s agenda,” the Indian embassy in Colombo said onTwitterlate Saturday, referencing the ongoing political and economic turmoil the nation is already battling after defaulting on its debt for the first time.
On Friday, the Chinese embassy in Sri Lankatweetedthat the South Asian country had every right to approve a foreign vessel docking at its port.
Will they help #SriLanka to ease its human rights crisis by providing concrete support?
Or will they again use human rights as a cover-up tool to interfere into ?? internal affairs and continue to rub salt into the wound of #SriLankan people?
Just let’s wait and see.
15/ /EqhjCKjKa6
— Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka (@ChinaEmbSL) August 26, 2022
“External obstruction based on so-called ‘security concerns’ but without any evidence from certain forces is de facto a thorough interference into Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence,” the Chinese mission wrote.
“Some countries, far or near, always make groundless excuses to bully Sri Lanka, and trample on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence repeatedly,” it said, without directly naming India.
Sri Lanka cleared the Yuan Wang 5 to dock at the Hambantota port from Aug. 16 to 22 after initially deferring a request from the Chinese embassy to allow the ship a call in mid-August for replenishment purposes.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said last month that the ship’s movements could have a bearing on its security and economic interests.
The Hambantota port that the vessel stopped at has been plagued by controversy, with the Sri Lankan government having to borrow heavily to construct it. When Sri Lanka couldn’t repay the loans, itgranted China a 99-year lease on the facility for debt relief.
Sri Lanka is currently negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for assistance amid its worst ever economic crisis.
