US think tank: Rajapaksa unlikely to deal with China as before

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2018, 23:51 GMT]
“Rajapaksa learned hard lessons from his last experience dealing with China on Belt and Road investments,” Andrew Small, a senior Fellow with Washington-based German Marshall Fund (GMF), was quoted as saying by New York-based Bloomberg on Thursday.  “Although Beijing will be happy to see his return – and was expecting it in the next round of elections anyway – it is unlikely that the dynamic will be the same as the last time he was in power,” the Asia expert has further said.

Andrew, an expert on U.S.-China relations, Europe-China relations and Chinese policy in South Asia, is the author of The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics.

Former SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has also echoed the same opinion in the Bloomberg report.

He denied the new government would once again lean on China to provide loans.

“We did not favor any particular country,” Gotabhaya has told Bloomberg.

“We want to work with anybody who wants to work with Sri Lanka, whether it’s west or east or whatever. And also we want to work with international organizations, but they have to be fair.”

Gotabhaya has also stated that he was not interested in becoming a minister.

“But a lot of people want me to contest for the presidency,” Gotabhaya was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg.

External Links:

Bloomberg:

Sri Lanka’s Strongman Is Back, and He’s Brought His Family Too

Chronology: