- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
In an interview, the leader said Sri Lanka is a neutral country and it does not have any military agreements with China.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SRI LANKAN president Ranil Wickremesinghe has affirmed that his country will not permit its territory to be used as a base for any threats against India, emphasising Colombo’s neutrality and the absence of military agreements with China. During an interview with France24 on Monday (26), Wickremesinghe said, “We are a neutral country, but we also emphasise the fact that we cannot allow Sri Lanka to be used as a base for any threats against India.”
Addressing concerns about China’s alleged military presence in Sri Lanka, the 74-year-old leader pointed out that the Chinese have been in the country for approximately “1500 years and, so far, there has been no military base.”
He further clarified that Sri Lanka does not have any military agreements with China and said, “There won’t be any military agreements. I don’t think China will enter into one.”
Wickremesinghe was on an official visit to the UK and France.
Regarding the Sri Lankan port in Hambantota, which China acquired on a 99-year lease as a debt swap in 2017, Wickremesinghe assured that there are no issues of military use by the Chinese. He highlighted that the Sri Lankan government maintains control over the security of the Hambantota harbour, despite China’s involvement. He added, “The Southern Naval Command will be shifted to Hambantota, and we have got one brigade stationed in Hambantota in the nearby areas.”
In the past, there have been concerns raised by India and the US about China’s increasing maritime presence in the strategic Indian Ocean region.
Last year, Sri Lanka allowed the Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship Yuan Wang 5 to dock at the Hambantota port, which raised fears about potential surveillance of Indian installations during the vessel’s journey to the island-nation.
The relationship between India and Sri Lanka faced strain when Colombo granted permission for a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to dock in one of its ports in 2014.
Wickremesinghe, a former prime minister, assumed the presidential office last year following the resignation of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who fled the country amid Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, triggered by forex shortages and considered the worst since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948.
(With agency inputs)
