Despite Sri Lanka’s indifference to international calls to not fire at civilians and mounting civilian casualties, China has publicly declared its support for the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to wipe out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
China supports the efforts of the Sri Lankan government to safeguard national integrity while ensuring security and political stability, said Jian Yu, spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry at a press briefing on Tuesday April 21, in Beijing.
She was responding to a question about the end of the24-hour deadline for surrender given to Pirapaharan by the Sri Lankan government, the Hindustan Times reported April 22.
According to Hindustan Times, China's declaration of support for the Sri Lankan government against the LTTE and in the process, extending its influence in the Indian Ocean, has further fuelled India’s mortal distrust of its largest and most powerful neighbour.
According to Indian government sources, Beijing's support to Colombo cannot be viewed in isolation because it follows a series of initiatives aimed at influencing the Sri Lankan government. These include selling huge quantities of arms to Colombo last year and boosting aid almost five times to $1 billion. In fact, China is now the largest donor to Lanka. Its Jian-7 fighter jets, anti-aircraft guns and JY-11 3D air surveillance radars played a key role in the Sri Lankan military successes, said the Hindustan times.
China came to rescue of Colombo after the US stopped direct aid to Sri Lanka because of its dismal human rights record. What's worse, said strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, Beijing has also roped in its ally Pakistan for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka. Pakistan's own economy is in tatters, but it has increased its annual military assistance to Sri Lanka to $100 million at Beijing’s behest. It is also well known that its air force trained its Sri Lankan counterpart in precision-guided attacks, add the Hindustan Times.
"The Chinese are courting Sri Lanka because of its location in the Indian Ocean -- a crucial international passageway for trade and oil. Chinese engineers are currently building a billion-dollar port in the country's southeast, Hambantota, and this is the latest `pearl' in China's strategy to control vital sea-lanes of communication between the Indian and Pacific Oceans by assembling a `string of pearls' in the form of listening posts, special naval arrangements and access to ports,'' Chellaney told the Hindustan Times.
The Chinese are building a highway, developing two power plants and putting up a new port in the hometown of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Delhi is also feeling hard done-by by Beijing's support to Colombo over the issue of LTTE because it believes China is driving home an unfair advantage it has over India in the crisis.
"Unlike in our case, there is no moral dimension to the crisis for China. We have to think about the humanitarian situation and conditions after the offensive is over. There is no domestic compulsion for China but our involvement is much more intricate,'' Hindustan Times said quoting an unnamed source.
China, in fact, continues to aggressively pursue its strategic interests by building ports in the Indian Ocean rim, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to Chellaney, Beijing has sought naval and commercial links with the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. "However, none of the port-building projects it has bagged in recent years can match the strategic value of Hambantota,'' Chellaney further told the Hindustan Times.
