Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa draws country closer to China after summit

Colombo

China and Sri Lanka plan to restart discussions on a free trade agreement, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said yesterday, following a high-level meeting between the two countries. Seen as close to Beijing, Rajapaksa has appointed several members of his family to top cabinet positions since his party won a commanding majority in August’s parliamentary elections including his brother Mahinda, who previ-ously also served as president. Negotiations on a free trade agreement were last held in 2017.

China has been making increasing inroads into South Asia with its Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at financing critical infrastructure in dozens of countries across the world. In 2017, Sri Lanka signed over control of a Chinese-financed port and land around it to Beijing after incurring heavy losses, to the alarm of the United States and regional power India.

Yesterday, Rajapaksa rejected accusations that China wanted to trap Sri Lanka into mounting debt with the port deal.