'Development and Business should not be politicised': Yi Xianliang

Reacting strongly to negative comments about China’s involvement in Sri Lanka, Chinese Ambassador to Colombo Yi Xianliang on Tuesday said the issues concerning development and business should not be politicized.

Ambassador Yi said that China was disappointed about the negative comments, especially related to some Chinese funded mega development projects.

While identifying China - Sri Lanka relations as an all-weather partnership, Ambassador Yi emphasized that his country does not get involved with the internal politics of any other country.

Speaking to a group of Journalists at the Chinese embassy in Colombo on Tuesday night the Ambassador said, Sri Lanka should have consistent policy, regulations and laws which do not waver with political upheavals in order to attract foreign investment and spur economic growth.

“I believe Chinese companies are willing and have the ability to invest more than 5 billion USD in Sri Lanka in the next 3 to 5 years. However, to attract more foreign investments including those from China, investment promotion policies, management systems and legal system should be further improved, while the Sri Lankan entrepreneur should welcome and accept foreign investors with an open and inclusive attitude” he added.

Answering a question about allegations of fraud and embezzlement of monies allocated for development projects during the previous regime, the Ambassador replied that if funds intended for development have been misused by local individuals, it was the responsibility of the relevant local authorities to investigate them and find those responsible.

The Ambassador stressed that pointing the finger at China was highly unreasonable as what China and Chinese companies have done was only fund development projects with sincere intent to assist Sri Lanka’s economic reconstruction and development.

The Ambassador also denied claims that China was giving loans to Sri Lanka at a high interest rate. He said that development assistance loans to developing countries like Sri Lanka was only at 2 percent interest.

Commenting on the suspension of work in the financial city (port city) project after the new government came into power, Ambassador Yi said this had caused a daily loss of 01 million USD to the relevant Chinese company and the total loss suffered was 140 million USD.

While welcoming the resumption of work in the project the Ambassador added  “ China welcomes other interested countries to join us in the investment projects in the financial city”

Making a comparison between Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka the Ambassador said that he feels Sri Lanka was the best place to invest in the future due to the country’s growing potential and its strong base in education, culture, human and natural resources and its location.

While noting that Chinese and Sri Lankan enterprises have worked together and constructed a number of mega projects, which have created more than 100,000 job opportunities for the local people in addition to training tens and thousands of technicians and managers, the Ambassador said that he believed there should be more and more joint ventures between the two countries.

Commenting on China’s decision to acquire 80 per cent stake at the Hambantota port, the Ambassador said that it was a win-win situation for both the countries.

On the Chinese funded Mattala Airport, recently described by a foreign magazine as the ‘World’s Emptiest Airport”, the Ambassador said that Sri Lankan Government should find ways to utilize it in a productive manner.

He said that Sri Lanka was in need of a second international airport as the Katunayake airport was highly congested.

The Ambassador pointed out that some Chinese provinces which are less than half the size of Sri Lanka had several thriving airports.

Highlighting China’s contribution to Sri Lanka’s development he said that China has completed infrastructure projects worth 15.5 billion USD in Sri Lanka by the end of 2015.

“China has direct investment of 409 million USD which is increasing rapidly. China has granted 1300 Scholarships and traineeship in the first half of this year. In addition China has trained more than 2100 Sri Lankan’s in the field of engineering, navy and the economy” he added.

He also said that 200,000 Chinese citizens travelled to Sri Lanka from January to August 2016, which was an increase of 32.2 per cent which put China at the top when it came to tourist arrivals.

He went on to say that when Sri Lanka suffered floods and landslides recently China offered unprecedented assistance.

While emphasizing that China – Sri Lanka relations is a time honoured friendship under whatever circumstances, he said that President Xi Jinping and President Maithripala Sirisena during the recent BRICS summit in Goa agreed to consolidate political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation under One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative and continue to support each other on issues of core interests.

“The Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s official visit to China in April and August as well as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s official visit to Sri Lanka were very fruitful. Facts proved that no matter what changes take place in the international landscape or their respective domestic agendas China – Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership featuring sincerity, mutual assistance and long-lasting friendship will continue to develop and move forward, Ambassodor Yi noted.