As the "infrastructure madman" of the global new century, China has attracted the attention of many third world countries, hoping to cooperate with China to promote the development of their respective countries.
At the end of 2016, Hambantota Port, Sri Lanka's second-largest port, suffered heavy losses, with cumulative losses of up to US$300 million. In desperation, Sri Lanka decided to take a stake in the Hambantota port to survive the crisis.
The port is strategically located, and as soon as the news broke, it immediately sparked a scramble from nearly 20 countries. India, European countries and the United States, which has deep pockets, have expressed their willingness to cooperate, among which India first threw out an olive branch, European countries are eyeing each other, and the United States has even offered as much as 100 billion US dollars.
However, Sri Lanka** has resolutely decided, "We will only cooperate with China".
Why did Sri Lanka make such a decision? What is the relationship between Hambantota Port and China? To the southeast of the Indian Peninsula, there is a 6The small island of 50,000 square kilometers, called Ceylon, is about the equivalent of 1The size of 8 islands of Taiwan.
This is Sri Lanka, which sits in the Indian Ocean, and when viewed from space, it is shaped like a tear in the southern Indian Ocean, hence the name "Tears of the Indian Ocean".
Although the capital, Colombo, is the economic and political center of Sri Lanka, Hambantota has an unbeatable advantage as a transit point. Its location is very strategic, only 10 nautical miles from the main east-west route, which is closer to the Port of Colombo and more easily accessible.
Although Hambantota's economic development is relatively lagging behind, it also means greater potential for development. As long as the infrastructure construction is completed, the Hambantota Port will become a springboard for Sri Lanka's economic take-off and drive the development of the entire country's economy.
Because of its geographical location, once the port is completed, it will attract a large number of ships passing through, at least 300 per day, making Sri Lanka an important hub for Asia-Europe shipping.
However, due to the weak economic base of the country, it is unable to undertake the construction and development of ports, and despite occupying a key position in the main route of the North Indian Ocean, the country's development has not improved.
As a result, despite Sri Lanka's population of more than 20 million, its GDP per capita is just over $3,000. To make matters worse, the port of Hambantota was never developed, and the mainstay of the port was salt production.
Although Sri Lanka has the potential to become a wealthy country due to its strategic location, due to its weak industrial base, even the processing and transportation of salt are very primitive, which cannot bring rich economic benefits to the local population.
Someone once described Sri Lanka as "a beggar with a golden job". However, it was not until December 26, 2004 that there was a 9Level 3 extra-large**, affecting more than 10 countries around the Indian Ocean, among which Sri Lanka was particularly badly affected.
The disaster made Sri Lanka realize the importance of Hambantota. The world's second-large** and massive tsunami destroyed almost all of Sri Lanka's coastal cities, highlighting the importance of the industrial base to the country's development.
The energy released is equivalent to 30,000 atomic bombs at the same time, enough to destroy everything. Hambantota in the northern Indian Ocean has been devastated, the local salt industry has been completely destroyed, and the whole region is in shambles, and the people are living in misery.
At this difficult time, countries around the world have reached out to help, especially China, which has contributed money and efforts to Sri Lanka's recovery. However, a poor country has been hit so hard that it will not be able to recover in the short term, and even foreign aid will be a drop in the bucket to make a real difference to Sri Lanka's predicament.
As a result, Sri Lanka's former Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to adopt a series of reform measures, including strengthening control over the economy and expanding infrastructure construction.
Mahinda also stressed that the focus should be on developing coastal areas and building a deep-water port around Hambantota so that it can play an important role in Asia-Europe shipping and promote the prosperity of the country.
Mahinda's vision is undoubtedly long-term, but the difficulties he faces are also obvious – the construction of the port requires a lot of money, and Sri Lanka cannot afford to bear such a burden.
Mahinda turned to the international community for help, including the United States, which calls itself the "world's policeman," and India, which claims to protect Sri Lanka. However, in the face of Sri Lanka's request for loans, both countries have shown arrogance, not only proposing high interest rates, but also trying to interfere in the construction of the Hambantota port.
Under the pressure of international borrowing, Sri Lanka rejected the harsh loan conditions of the United States and India in order to safeguard its sovereignty and national interests. Instead, they turned to China for help.
After a detailed investigation, China believes that there is great potential for the establishment of a port in Hambantota. As a result, China agreed to provide a loan to Hambantota to help with its construction.
The loan was provided by the Export-Import Bank of China, and the cost of the first phase of construction is 30.6 billion US dollars at an interest rate of 63% with a loan term of 15 years. This is an important action taken by China to support Sri Lanka's development and safeguard its sovereignty and interests.
After hard work, the Export-Import Bank of China provided a loan of US$900 million to help the Hambantota Port project enter the second phase, and the generous interest rate of 2% has solved the financial problem, and the construction work is in full swing.
In 2012, with the hard work of China Hydropower and Water Conservancy Construction Group, the first phase of construction of Hambantota Port was successfully completed and officially put into use. With up to eight 100,000-ton terminals and two 10,000-ton terminals, the port has a strong throughput capacity and will become an emerging transportation hub in the northern Indian Ocean.
In order to repay Sri Lanka's debts, we propose to share the profits from port operations. Unfortunately, the Hambantota Port is operating at an unsatisfactory level and has incurred significant losses in its first year of operation.
In 2013, when China proposed the "One Belt, One Road" strategy, Sri Lanka's value was once again highlighted, and China increased its resources to promote the development of the Hambantota Port project.
However, the legacy of Sri Lanka's civil war has not yet been resolved, and political instability has made economic development difficult. This once hopeful ** port is now in a loss-making situation, with a total loss of $300 million by the end of 2016.
In order to avoid the huge investment in the construction of the port to fall short, Sri Lanka** decided to adopt the method of equity for capital to lease the Hambantota port. This would not only alleviate the domestic debt crisis, but also reverse the losses by leveraging the operational experience of mature countries.
The Hambantota Port is no longer comparable to what it used to be, and the infrastructure built by China has given it the rudimentary shape of an international port. It is widely believed that the loss of the Hambantota Port is only the result of mismanagement in Sri Lanka**, and once the construction of the surrounding commercial facilities is completed, its commercial value will jump to new heights.
As a result, all countries have shown great interest and great sincerity, which is very different from the indifference and hegemony of ten years ago. India has expressed its willingness to take over the Hambantota port in its entirety, Europe has proposed to help Sri Lanka upgrade its industries, and the United States has offered a sky-high price of 100 billion US dollars.
In the end, more than 20 countries participated in the battle, including smaller countries such as South Korea and Singapore, all of which wanted a piece of the Hambantota port.
In the face of a complex external environment, Sri Lanka** has always adhered to its own principles, rejected investment requests from other countries, and signed a 99-year cooperation agreement with China, under which China will directly manage the Hambantota port.
This decision not only led to a rapid improvement in the operation of the Hambantota Port, but also had a significant impact on the local economy. In less than a year, the value of land in the Hambantota region has doubled, and per capita wages have increased threefold or fourfold.
These young people earn even more than their peers in the capital, Colombo. Before we took over, the Hambantota port had ceased its car transfer service and now has a capacity of 15,000 cars parked in the port, making a significant contribution to Sri Lanka's transportation industry.
The Port of Hambantota is more than just a port, it is a symbol of prosperity, with busy freighters, passenger ships, orderly workers and an industrial zone that is under constant planning every day. According to statistics, in the first half of 2018, the bulk cargo throughput of Hambantota Port reached 7660,000 tons, oil and gas business reached 0430,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of more than two times.
Sri Lankan executives said the port would become the largest port in the country, more powerful than cities such as Colombo because of the high-tech equipment and advanced management experience provided by China.
The success of the Hambantota port has further deepened the friendly relations between China and Sri Lanka. Since 2007, Sri Lanka has regarded China as its most important partner.
After Wenchuan in 2008, Sri Lanka's Mahinda immediately arrived in China to offer condolences and donated thousands of tents and $1 million in relief supplies.
For China, these donations may be insignificant, but for Sri Lanka in economic difficulties, they are invaluable. As the ancients said: "Sending goose feathers for thousands of miles, courtesy is light and affectionate", Sri Lanka has maintained the friendship between the two countries with practical actions.
Similarly, China, as a country of etiquette, also provided 20 million yuan in aid to Sri Lanka in 2011 when it was hit by catastrophic floods to help the Sri Lankan people rebuild their homes.
In international affairs, Sri Lanka has always firmly supported the "one-China" principle, and has publicly stated its position and spoken out for China on many occasions when Western countries have spread rumors and smeared China.
Sri Lanka is adjacent to India, so when China plays an important role in Sri Lanka's economy, India** sees it as a threat to its influence in the southern Indian Ocean.
In order to undermine Sino-Sri Lankan cooperation at the Hambantota port, India has resorted to various means, including inciting popular demonstrations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even openly said that China's construction at the Hambantota port was only to gain a military base and warned Sri Lankan civilians that China was a huge risk.
However, these tricks have not had a substantial impact on the in-depth cooperation between China and Sri Lanka at the Hambantota port.
Asked about the possibility of renegotiating a cooperation agreement with China in December 2019, Gotabaya made it clear that the signed documents will remain valid for the long term.
His remarks gave confidence to the project leaders in both countries. However, the U.S. and Indian interference in the Hambantota port has not stopped. In September this year, the Chinese research ship "Experiment 6" plans to conduct a three-month study in Sri Lankan territorial waters.
However, the U.S. claimed that the research vessel was a spy ship carrying a large amount of recording equipment, and that it was backed by India. However, Sri Lanka** was not misled by the United States and India, but warmly welcomed the arrival of the Chinese research ship and said that the United States had no right to interfere in their relations with China.
The once active United States** was finally speechless, and since then it has been silent and has never dared to touch related topics again. Today, Hambantota Port is an indispensable and important port in the Indian Ocean, with a thriving scene of ships.
Even the U.S. media, which has a high regard for themselves, have to admit that the Hambantota port is expected to become Sri Lanka's "Shekou Industrial Zone". Led by the port, Sri Lanka's economy has shown strong growth momentum, even in the face of general global economic weakness.
The people's lives have also become more convenient because of the infrastructure built by China. It is foreseeable that in the near future, China and Sri Lanka will carry out more in-depth cooperation in various fields and jointly seek prosperity and development.