Colombo
 Sri Lanka is battling one of its worst economic crises in over seven decades, as successive governments in the island nation have ignored sovereign bonds to Sri Lanka, with China being a major lender.
It has succumbed to Chinese foreign investment with the hope for better infrastructure, higher employment, income, economic stability, thereby increasing the standard of living of the common people. However, they ignored repeated warnings of China’s ulterior motives of keeping them indebted and dependent for years.
The country has foreign debt obligations of around USD 7 billion in 2022, including prepayment of bonds worth USD 1 billion in July 2021.
Sri Lanka found a “friend” in China after the war with LTTE. Footprints of China became visible in Sri Lanka with infrastructure projects like bridges, roads, railways, ports, airports, offers to develop special economic zones (SEZ), oil refineries, industrial towns, LNG power plants, etc.
However, the eclipse of domestic innovation made Sri Lankans mere spectators while the country remained more China dependent.
Despite huge Chinese investments in Sri Lanka for years, the country is reeling under one of the worst economic crises in its history with depleting forex reserves, huge foreign debt and debt servicing obligations. The crisis has now hit the nerves of the common man with a shortage of food, fertilizer, fuel, power and spiralling prices.
Apprehending the major political fallout of the current crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa requested Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to Sri Lanka in January this year to restructure debt repayments. Wang’s visit comes after China-Sri Lanka relations took a nosedive after a recent tussle over contaminated organic fertilizer dispatched to Sri Lanka.
