China adopts 'open attitude' towards Indian investments in Sri Lanka

CHINA on Thursday stated it maintains an "open attitude" towards India and other nations having mutually beneficial cooperation with Sri Lanka, after Colombo announced signing a 3.85-billion U.S. dollar deal with an Indian private company-led joint venture to build an oil refinery near the Chinese-built and operated Hambantota port.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news conference in Beijing that he was not aware of the refinery project yet, but "CHINA stands ready to work with India and other relevant sides to help boost Sri Lanka's development."

"CHINA adopts an open attitude toward the mutually beneficial cooperation between Sri Lanka and India as well as other parties. CHINA stands ready to work with India and other relevant sides to help boost Sri Lanka's development. In foreign relations, CHINA is more broad-minded than you might have imagined," Geng told journalists in response to a question on the reported Indian investments in Sri Lanka.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang addresses a press conference in Beijing, March 21, 2019. /Photo via CHINA's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"CHINA and Sri Lanka have conducted extensive and deep cooperation in various fields under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative with fruitful results. The Hambantota project you mentioned is a good case in point. Through such mutually beneficial cooperation, CHINA has been helping with Sri Lanka's economic and social development and Sri Lanka commends and appreciates what CHINA has done," he added.

CHINA remains the biggest investor

A a general view of the port facility at Hambantota, Sri Lanka. The port is controlled and operated by CHINA Merchants Port Holdings. /VCG Photo

Sri Lanka's state-owned investment board disclosed this week that the country received its highest ever FDI of 2.37 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 38 percent from 1.78 billion U.S. dollars received a year earlier, Xinhua news agency reported.

CHINA remained the biggest source of FDI for Sri Lanka, followed by India and Singapore, revealed Champika Malalgoda, Director General of the Board of Investment.

Malalgoda said although the country fell short of its target of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, the achievement of 2.37 billion dollars was the highest received in a single year.

Sri Lanka aimed to attract FDIs worth three billion U.S. dollars this year, said Malalgoda, expressing hope that the country could achieve this with the projects in the pipeline including the oil refinery in Mirijjawila.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover:A general view of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPS) Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery in Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 11, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Beijing

Hong Kong

Tokyo

Istanbul

New Delhi

Singapore

Damascus

Baghdad

Islamabad

Seoul

Brussel

Moscow

Canberra

Cairo

Nairobi

Johannesburg

Washington,D.C.

Los Angeles

Rio de janeiro