Storm in a port

Nguồn tin: nguontinviet.com

AT A cost of $1.4 billion, Colombo port city is Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign-financed project. The idea is to reclaim land from the sea and build fancy houses on it. The state-owned China Communications Construction Company won the contract from the ports ministry, run by the then president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The megaproject fits neatly into China’s plans for what it calls a new maritime Silk Road to increase trade across the Indian Ocean. But in Sri Lanka, the deal is hugely controversial. It has become a test of how far the new government can turn its back on the Rajapaksa era and how skilfully it can steer its foreign policy between Asia’s two giants, China and India.

During the election campaign, Maithripala Sirisena, who is now president, promised to review the plan and investigate all foreign-funded projects for corruption and other problems. On March 5th work on the port city was suspended after an initial study found various planning and other permits had not been obtained.

The trouble is that the project has opened up divisions within the new government, a fragile alliance between parts of the old opposition United National Party, defectors from Mr Rajapaksa’s ranks (including Mr Sirisena himself), and smaller groups. In February a senior minister said the project would continue. A day later the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said two parliamentary committees would have to investigate “serious suspicion regarding this transaction” before a decision was made. The onus for securing the missing contracts rests on Sri Lanka’s ports authority, a state-owned body. Piling on the pressure, the Chinese—who are financing the port city—have said they cannot afford any more delays.

The project is a headache partly because geopolitics is at play. India dislikes China holding land near Colombo’s port, a trans-shipment hub for Indian cargo. Last year, it objected strongly to a Chinese military submarine docking at the port’s Chinese-run commercial harbour. It was no coincidence that work on the port was suspended just before India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, arrived in Sri Lanka, the first bilateral visit for 28 years. It would have been inconceivable for construction to be in progress when he arrived, said a senior diplomat.

Mr Sirisena is keen to repair relations with India. There have been four high-level bilateral visits between the countries since January, plus a slew of agreements, including Sri Lanka’s first civil nuclear partnership with any foreign government.

The president is also rebuilding ties with the West, which have been damaged by Mr Rajapaksa’s refusal to investigate alleged war crimes committed at the end of Sri Lanka’s decades-long military conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. Eschewing his predecessor’s intransigence, Mr Sirisena has promised to set up a domestic inquiry within a month.

But he does not want to turn his back on China, which is not only offering easy terms for the project, but also contributed an abundance of weaponry to the war on the Tigers at a time when other countries hesitated or were critical. “India is a good neighbour,” says Mr Sirisena. “China is a good ally.” Keeping both countries happy is proving a tricky task.

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