{"id":1438882,"date":"2022-04-14T18:30:23","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T22:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1438882"},"modified":"2022-04-14T18:30:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T22:30:31","slug":"china-blames-america-for-socialist-sri-lankas-belt-and-road-debt-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-blames-america-for-socialist-sri-lankas-belt-and-road-debt-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"China Blames America for Socialist Sri Lanka&#039;s Belt and Road Debt Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-blames-america-for-socialist-sri-lankas-belt-and-road-debt-disaster%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1438882&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">China\u2019s state-run propaganda newspaper\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em>\u00a0on Wednesday blamed American sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine for Sri Lanka\u2019s increasingly dire economic disaster \u2013 a disaster greatly exacerbated by the country taking out predatory loans from China.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em> acknowledged the loans and Sri Lanka\u2019s enthusiastic participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global plan to erode the sovereignty of impoverished states by offering predatory loans to be used to pay China for infrastructure projects. In Sri Lanka, the government was forced to hand over its critical Hambantota seaport to the Communist Party in 2017 after it defaulted on its prodigious debt to China, and still struggles to make its payments to Beijing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Nationwide protests have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/04\/12\/caruzo-how-china-green-policies-democratic-socialism-destroyed-sri-lanka\/\">rocked<\/a> Sri Lanka in the past month as the price of living soared, hospitals ran out of medicine and canceled surgeries, gas stations ran out of fuel, and markets grew increasingly empty. Protesters have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/04\/01\/sri-lanka-mob-storms-presidents-house-country-runs-out-food-gasoline\/\">attempted<\/a> to storm President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s home and have now established a permanent protest camp demanding he, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and every Rajapaksa family member in government resign.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the Rajapaksa family, Gotabaya and Mahinda are brothers, and another <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-the-rajapaksa-clan-in-sri-lanka-politics-7854579\/\">40 Rajapaksas<\/a> have enjoyed national government posts in the past decade. They have dominated Sri Lankan politics since Mahinda, as president, ended the 26-year war between the government and the Tamil Tigers organization.<\/p>\n<p>Protesters routinely condemn the Rajapaksa oligarchy for overspending, borrowing too much from China, and now failing to have enough money to secure basic food and medicine supplies. As Sri Lanka is a \u201cdemocratic socialist\u201d republic, Colombo \u2013 and not private corporations \u2013 is responsible for said purchases. No protest against the government has displayed any significant opposition to the United States, nor has the opposition movement cited America as a meaningful actor in the crisis in any way.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Rajapaksa regime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/04\/12\/sri-lanka-defaults-foreign-debt-save-money-essential-goods\/\">announced<\/a> this week that it would default on its foreign debts to use the money that would have gone to those payments to buy food and medicine.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em>\u00a0made the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202204\/1259247.shtml\">effort<\/a> to tie the Sri Lankan socialist crisis to Washington and, bizarrely, Kyiv, claiming that Russian sanctions had devastated the Sri Lankan economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-led economic sanctions against Russia may have further aggravated Sri Lanka\u2019s economic plight,\u201d the Chinese state outlet asserted this week. \u201cThe deteriorating economic crisis in the South Asian nation is a typical example of how emerging economies, especially those small and vulnerable ones, are suffering from the shocks from the reckless Western economic sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the West claimed their sanctions are against Russia, they are seriously harming the interests of developing economies and may even cause a widespread humanitarian crisis,\u201d the\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em> claimed.<\/p>\n<p>The outlet added that the Sri Lankan crisis should \u201cserve as a wake-up call for the global economy, especially the developing world, that is exposed to the growing external risks from geopolitical turbulence instigated by the US-led West.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cChina certainly does not want to see Sri Lanka stuck in an economic crisis and would help wherever it can, especially when it comes to addressing its economic challenges,\u201d it continued. \u201cHowever, in a broader sense, developing countries, especially those in the Asia Pacific region, should step up and work jointly to fend off risks posed by toxic policies pushed by the US and its Western allies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em> admitted that most objective international observers consider the BRI and China\u2019s debt traps a meaningful contributor to the Sri Lankan economic crisis but called such an observation \u201cshortsighted,\u201d \u201cunreasonable,\u201d and \u201cgroundless.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe debt composition of the South Asian nation is very complicated and its outstanding external debt is mainly owed to international markets. China is only Sri Lanka\u2019s fourth biggest creditor, behind international financial markets, the Asian Development Bank and Japan,\u201d the state propaganda newspaper contended. \u201cSo it is unreasonable and groundless for some forces to hype up Chinese debt as a major cause of Sri Lanka\u2019s economic crisis while turning a blind eye to other major creditors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em> nonetheless acknowledged that Sri Lanka\u2019s Belt and Road efforts were \u201cmassive.\u201d However, rather than noting them as needless expenses, the Chinese outlet insisted the BRI was \u201ccrucial for the country to integrate into the global value chain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s defense of its relationship with Sri Lanka follows offering it a $1.2 billion loan in 2009 that directly resulted in the seizure of the Hambantota port \u2013 an especially important asset given that the island nation relies on imports of key supplies. The seizure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3122975\/mistake-china-can-extend-hambantota-port-lease-198-years-sri\">grants<\/a> China control of the port for at least 99 years but potentially as many as 198. It also follows reports that China is offering to \u201chelp\u201d Sri Lanka with yet another predatory loan, potentially valued at $1.5 billion, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-talks-with-china-25-bln-credit-support-chinese-official-2022-03-21\/\">Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The permanent protest encampment, now dubbed \u201cGota Go Gama\u201d for its demand that President Rajapaksa and his relatives all resign, refused an offer from Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week to meet and discuss their concerns. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/latest_news\/Protestors-refuse-to-meet-PM-put-forward-two-demands\/342-235062\">letter<\/a> to the president on Wednesday, the group notably omitted any references to America or the war in Russia; its main demand was for the Rajapaksas to leave power.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20655212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Sri-Lanka-protest-for-Rajapaksa-family-to-resign-ap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20655212\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Sri-Lanka-protest-for-Rajapaksa-family-to-resign-ap.jpg\" alt=\"Sri Lankans protest demanding president Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 4, 2022. Sri Lanka\u2019s president on Monday invited all political parties represented in Parliament to accept ministries after his Cabinet resigned amid public protests over the country\u2019s worst economic crisis in memory that has caused shortages of food, fuel and medicines. (AP Photo\/Eranga Jayawardena)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sri Lankans protest demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 4, 2022 (AP Photo\/Eranga Jayawardena).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201c[I]n a letter sent to Rajapaksa, a group of protestors said they were not ready to meet him unless President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns and all Rajapaksa members leave the government,\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s\u00a0<em>Daily Mirror<\/em> reported.\u00a0\u201cIn the second demand, the protestors specifically ask for the Prime Minister and all other Rajapaksa members, namely Chamal Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Shashindra Rajapaksa and Nipuna Ranawaka to step down from all government posts immediately and also leave Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Opposition journalists have similarly not included the Russian war in their complaints regarding government expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir [the Rajapaksa family\u2019s] plunder has caused the country dearly,\u201d columnist Vishwamithra <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-rajapaksas-should-be-dishonorably-discharged\/\">wrote<\/a> in the\u00a0<em>Colombo Telegraph<\/em> on Wednesday. \u201c[C]ommissions ill-earned from excessive borrowings from China for construction and improvement of infrastructure facilities in the country are not merely a catchword coined by the Opposition; it\u2019s an authentic expression of a defined set of expenditures undertaken for and on behalf of the land they preside over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEver since Mahinda came to power in 2005, the unrestrained spending they committed to has now come to eat them alive,\u201d Vishwamithra continued. \u201cThe fundamentals of balancing a budget have evaded them and instead of those who committed that mortal sin, it\u2019s the country and its inhabitants who have to suffer scarcities and brutal living conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Outside of the protest movement, the health worker community has condemned the government for giving so much money to China that it can now no longer afford medicine \u2013 again not referencing the war in Ukraine in any way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey overspent on the Chinese [coronavirus] vaccine; thrice more than what the Chinese Government spent on other countries. As such, all these haphazard and hasty decisions have contributed to the prevailing crisis,\u201dGovernment Medical Officers\u2019 Forum President Dr. Rukshan Bellana <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/plus\/Shortage-of-drugs-and-devices-leads-to-acute-crisis\/352-234998\">told<\/a> the\u00a0<em>Mirror<\/em> this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA sum of Rs. 61 billion [about $190 million] was allocated for health during the previous budget, but now former State Minister Prof. Channa Jayasumana reveals how much of this was spent on health,\u201d another doctor, All Ceylon Medical Officers Association General Secretary Dr. Jayantha Bandara, told the\u00a0<em>Mirror<\/em>. \u201cNow he says there\u2019s no money. Compared to other countries the per head expenditure for health in Sri Lanka is almost negligible. Almost all drugs, devices and reagents are being imported.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost all reagents are being imported. Even though we produce gauze and other items, the raw materials are being imported. Another 60 drugs are being locally manufactured, but here again, the raw materials are being imported,\u201d Bandara observed.<\/p>\n<p>As Sri Lanka is a \u201cdemocratic socialist\u201d state, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/heapol\/article\/32\/9\/1267\/3977797\">no robust private healthcare system<\/a> for those who do not belong to the wealthy elite.<\/p>\n<p>The government has denied any concerns about medical supplies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no acute shortage of drugs and the Ministry is managing the issue at the moment,\u201d\u00a0Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who abruptly resigned this month along with all other cabinet members who are not Rajapaksas, claimed.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the Health Ministry, now under different management, finally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsfirst.lk\/2022\/04\/14\/health-ministry-acknowledges-medicine-shortage\/\">acknowledged<\/a> the shortages, which include both medicine and key hospital equipment.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1649767167560000&#038;usg=AOvVaw3rbnC08FjOcPT_hOd2u8h5\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1649767167560000&#038;usg=AOvVaw29eMJmL6xeLuvpNTZcl2Q_\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s state-run propaganda newspaper\u00a0Global Times\u00a0on Wednesday blamed American sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine for Sri Lanka\u2019s increasingly dire economic disaster \u2013 a disaster greatly exacerbated by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}