That’s why China is worried
Being on the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka becomes strategically important for both China and India. Last year, huge protests broke out in the midst of the economic crisis in the country. In the midst of these demonstrations, the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. The country’s economy sank due to Chinese debt. Jaishankar was in Colombo for 24 hours and China was watching every moment. Sri Lanka was assured by India that it would help it get a $2.9 billion bailout package from the IMF. Only after this China lost its sleep and it also decided to take a similar step.
china stealing mouth
There were reports on Sunday that China has also promised to help Sri Lanka get an IMF bailout package. However, so far no official announcement has been made by President Xi Jinping’s government. Financial help was requested from China several times by the Government of Sri Lanka. But did not get any assurance. If sources are to be believed, seeing the instability of the country, China started shying away from giving financial help. On behalf of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, it was said that India is the first country which has officially helped it to get the IMF loan.
How did China’s attitude change?
In September 2022, the IMF entered into an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka. Under this, he was to be given a package of 48 months. This package will be given to Sri Lanka under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) rule. However, the EFF’s offer was subject to financial assurances from Sri Lanka’s three official creditors, India, China and Japan. Its purpose is to return the country’s debt stability. After this, China started getting cut from this program everyday by making one or the other excuse. But as soon as India took a step forward, its attitude changed.
