China-Sri Lanka ties reach new high - Ambassador Yi Xianliang

by Manjula Fernando

Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang said China will always be a reliable partner and a friend of Sri Lanka. He stressed that his government did not wish to use Sri Lanka as a base to launch political offensives against any other country.

An overview of the Colombo Port City Pic:Utube

Citing the recent state visit of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to Beijing, he said China was willing to bring relations between the two countries to a new level of excellence.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer, the Ambassador said his government supported Sri Lanka's aspirations to make the Colombo Port City a financial and business hub, even welcoming investment from China's traditional trade rivals. But, he said, Beijing expected consistency and stability in Sri Lanka's policies, particularly on matters concerning foreign investment.

Excerpts...

Q: Following the visit by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to Beijing how do you think Sri Lanka-China relations are progressing ?

A: China and Sri Lanka enjoy profound traditional friendship. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1957, China-Sri Lanka relations have maintained the general direction of friendly cooperation and progress.

Today, China is the second largest trade partner and an important source for Sri Lanka, the largest partner in infrastructure development, a major source of foreign investment of Sri Lanka and the second largest source of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka.

President Xi Jinping with President Maithripala Sirisena on his visit to China

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang in China Pix:Xinhua

The friendly cooperation between our two countries has brought practical benefits to both people. The State visit paid by the Chinese President Xi Jinping to Sri Lanka in September, 2014, and the State visit by President Maithripala Sirisena to China in March, 2015, were historic landmarks.

During Prime Minister Wickremesinghe's recent visit to China, leaders of the two countries reached broad consensus on the development of bilateral relations. The two sides issued a joint statement and signed agreements covering areas of trade and investment, science and technology, health, judiciary and other areas.

This successful visit will enhance substantive cooperation in all areas, upgrade China-Sri Lanka relations to a new level of excellence, and bring more benefits to the two people's.

China and Sri Lanka are traditional good neighbours. China always put Sri Lanka on an important position, among its neighbourhood diplomacy. No matter what happened at international fora or in Sri Lanka, China is committed to developing and strengthening relations with Sri lanka.

China will always be a reliable friend and development partner of this island nation. China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to promote the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership to a new high.

Q: What is your expectation on Sri Lanka - China relations?

A: From the Chinese side, we expect consistency and stability in Sri Lanka's policies, which is a key factor to attract foreign investment. We hope Sri Lanka can create a favourable investment climate and business environment for foreign enterprises.

With preferential conditions and policy façilities that may be required, such as providing land, tax concessions and foreign currency exchanges, Sri Lanka will attract more and more investments from China and other countries.

As for constructing industrial parks in Sri Lanka by Chinese enterprises, it is expected that Sri Lanka can offer industrial parks the same legal rights and preferential conditions applicable to parks and provide support to ensure adequate infrastructure facilities while assuring adequate connectivity to the parks along with security guarantees and other relevant aspects.

Q: Sri Lanka's biggest ever project is the Port City project. Did the Prime Minister's visit help to iron out the differences over the Port City and were the issues worked out to the satisfaction of both parties ?

A: The Colombo Port City is a 1.4 billion US dollar project invested by China Communications Construction Company(CCCC), the biggest FDI for Sri Lanka and a pure commercial investment.

It will bring a second round of investment of 13 billion US dollars and will create over 83,000 job opportunities.

The suspension of the operation of the project in March 2015 has made nearly 5,000 Sri Lankans directly or indirectly jobless. Personally, I am perturbed that not many people are concerned about this.

In March 2016, the Sri Lankan government announced the resumption of the project and the Chinese side welcomed the decision. We are willing to steadily advance project development with Sri Lanka in a joint effort. We believe that the Chinese company and the Sri Lankan side can solve related issues through negotiation, giving the impetus for the development of Sri Lanka at an early date.

Q: What is China's contribution to convert the Colombo Port City into a financial and business hub as envisaged by the Sri Lankan PM ?

A: China supports Sri Lanka to build the Colombo Port City into a financial and business hub and will continue to encourage Chinese financial institutions to enhance cooperation with its Sri Lankan counterpart and set up branches in Sri Lanka.

Q: The Port City is reportedly open for Indian and Japanese investments as well. Your comments ?

A: China-Sri Lanka cooperation is open and transparent, and never aims at a third party. China has no intention to use Sri Lanka as a base against any other country. We welcome interested parties to join us. A trilateral or multilateral relationship featuring sound interaction, mutual promotion, mutual benefit and win-win result will best fit the interests of all sides.

Q: What are the prospects of 'new Chinese' investments in Sri Lanka ? The SL government has proposed equity-sharing on Hambantota port and Mattala airport. Are you positive about this proposal and how is it going to work?

A: China will continue to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Sri Lanka, and financial institutions to support infrastructure in Sri Lanka.

As both sides agreed during Prime Minister Wickremesinghe's visit to China, the Hambantota Integrated Development Projects and some other projects will be implemented as a priority. The projects will deliver considerable benefits to the Southern and Western Megapolis Development, to achieve mutual benefit. The two sides will maintain close communication and further discussion on ways of cooperation.

Q: How far has the FTA between the two countries progressed?

A: The Chinese side supports China-Sri Lanka FTA negotiations. The joint feasibility study between China and Sri Lanka began in Beijing in August 2013 and ended in March 2014.

The results showed that the China-Sri Lanka FTA will contribute to further deepening bilateral economic and trade relations and accord with the benefits of the two countries.

During the Prime Minister's recent visit to China, both sides agreed to hold the third round of negotiations as early as possible and work towards concluding the negotiation at an early date.

Q: China is fast becoming a major source of tourism for Sri Lanka. What are the special interests of Chinese tourists in Sri Lanka and what is the reason for the increase in tourist arrivals? What are the trends for 2016 ?

A: Bilateral cooperation on tourism between China and Sri Lanka has achieved remarkable progress in recent years. In 2015, Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka reached a historic new high of 215,000. The number expanded ten times in three years.

China has become the second largest source of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka. There are several factors contributing to such fast growth.

The abundant tourism resources attract tourists worldwide to the 'Pearl of the Indian Ocean'. Tourists could experience Buddhist culture, historical heritage, majestic mountains and beautiful beaches all in one single tour. Secondly, the friendship between China and Sri Lanka is deeply-rooted in the hearts of the two peoples, which makes Chinese tourists feel safe and comfortable when choosing a tourist destination.

Thirdly, SriLankan Airlines and China Airlines have direct flights linking Colombo with big cities of China, providing much convenience for travellers. Last but not least, China's policy to encourage travel to Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka's excellent performance in promoting tourism in China, is also a great contributor to the fast growth. In the first quarter of 2016, there were 77,914 Chinese tourists, which is a year-on-year rise of 46.6 percent, showing a bright future for tourism cooperation. I believe in more and more people-to-people exchanges between our two countries, the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples will further deepen and the foundation of bilateral relations will be consolidated.