By Ankit Panda
The new Sri Lankan government will not allow Chinese submarines to dock
Last year, Sri Lanka managed to cause a good deal of trepidation in New Delhi when a Chinese submarine, Changzheng-2, was spotted docking in Colombo, flanked by a Chinese warship. Observers took the visit as a sign that China ”has its sights set on dominating the Indian Ocean.” Still, the submarine visit put Sri Lanka in a bit of an awkward position diplomatically with New Delhi. One important detail of the entire incident that did not make it into mainstream reporting was that the sub did not dock in a Sri Lanka-controlled port facility designed to accommodate military vessels. Instead, the submarine ended up at the Colombo South Container Terminal (CSCT), a facility controlled by a Chinese developer. While that facility was able to accommodate the submarine, the entire incident may have taken place without the express approval of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.
Still, these details aside, Sri Lanka has now taken a firm stand against any perceptions that it is offering preferential port access to Chinese military assets. On Saturday, speaking in Beijing, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera noted that Sri Lanka would not allow visits by Chinese submarines to its ports. “I really don’t know under which sort of circumstances that led to some submarines… to [visit] the port of Colombo on the very day the Japanese Prime Minister was visiting Sri Lanka. But we will ensure that such incidents, from whatever quarter, do not happen during our tenure,” Samaraweera noted. Samaraweera’s comments suggests that China may not be the only country affected as part of the new government’s plans to ban submarine visits.
Read the full story at The Diplomat