Lanka’s External Debt: 2010 and 2016 in Comparison …. There is no Chinese Gonibilla Monster

Nishan de Mel of VERITE RESEARCH

“There is a tendency for discussion on Sri Lanka’s economy to overstate its dependence on China. It is important to take a look at the numbers. In 2010 China’s part of Sri Lanka’s loan portfolio was 3%. By 2016 it had grown to 9%, with the 6% growth coming from the Chines EXIM Bank. This is less than the loan portfolio held by other bilaterals and multilaterals such as Japan and ADB. The largest growth during this period was in the loan portfolio held by international financial markets. In 2010 it was 30% and by 2016 it had increased to 44% of the loan portfolio.”

SO: one has to ponder this question — which elements and which media outlets have promoted and massaged the fears of China? and towards what goals? Editor, Thuppahi

MOREOVER: addressing those who harp on “China’s One Belt, One Road” programme and its engagement in ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka etc,  I raise several issues

A = Look at USA’s base in Diego Garcia and evaluate the military arsenal it packs in the western half of the Indian Ocean (in association with Saudi Arabia et el). 

B = Add the forces –maritime and aerial — available to India and Singapore [yes Singapore] 

C = Check out the Malacca Straits and consider HOW China cannot conceivably enter the Indian Ocean with warships in any act of “gunboat diplomacy” ( a concept developed under British imperialism in its Far Eastern excursions).

D =  …. and perhaps even compare the military arsenals in the Pacific Ocean today TODAY available to China in comparison with the stock marshalled by the USA-Japan-Australia combination. While I do not have any figures, I am confident the comparison will be an eye-opener to those who peddle the Chinese dragon.

I am relying on my common sense.

ALSO SEE

Economist  “Chinese Interests in the Indian Ocean–A Sober Evaluation in 2013,” 31 March 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/03/31/chinese-interests-in-the-indian-ocean-a-sober-evaluation-in-2013/

Natasha Gooneratne: “USA’s Imperial Embrace marked in 2015 … and Now Continuing,” 14 July 2016, https://thuppahis.com/2016/07/14/usas-imperial-embrace-marked-in-2015-and-now-continuing/

Gerald H. Peiris: “The Doctrine of Responsibility to Protect: Impulses, Implications and Impact,” 30 June 2010, http://www.slguardian.org/2010/06/the-doctrine-of-responsibility-to-protect-impulses-implications-and-impact/ AND https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/from%3A(geraldpeiris%40yahoo.com)+OR+to%3A(geraldpeiris%40yahoo.com)/1510fc7141751033?projector=1

Michael Roberts: “Lilliputs in a World of Giants: Marga and CHA bat for Lanka in the Propaganda War, 2009-14,” 18 November 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/18/lilliputs-in-a-world-of-giants-marga-and-cha-bat-for-lanka-in-the-propaganda-war-2009-14/#more-18467

Michael Roberts: “Sturdy Advocacy: Marga’s Questioning of the UNPoE’s Assassination Job,” 25 November 2009, https://thuppahis.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=18544&action=edit&postpost=v2

Jeevan Thiagarajah: “Marga/CHA in Advocacy with BRIC Nations at Geneva, September 2014,” 19 November 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/19/margacha-in-advocacy-with-bric-nations-at-geneva-september-2014/#more-18498

“Marga & CHA Press Their Views in the Washington Den,” via Jeevan Thiagarajah: “Memo on Visit to Washington, 16-23^rd October 2014: Resetting the Discourse on Post-War Issues of Accountability,” 19 November 2015,

“International Pressures & Island Fissures: Gunatilleke faces Ratnawalli,” 5 November 2015 https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/05/international-pressures-island-fissures-gunatilleke-faces-ratnawalli/

Greg Sheridan 2015a “No Sermons from the Ludicrous UNHCR Please,” 12 November 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/12/no-sermons-from-the-ludicrous-unhcr-please/

Greg Sheridan 2015b “Disasters from Western Action and R2P in the Middle East,”   19november 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/19/disasters-from-western-action-and-r2p-in-the-middle-east-when-will-we-ever-learn/