Addressing India’s Concerns, Lanka Limits China’s Role To Commercial Operations At Hambantota Port

Sri Lanka on Tuesday revised the agreement for its Chinese-built port of Hambantota after terms of the first pact sparked widespread public anger in the island nation. Controversy erupted after China’s state-run Merchants Port Holdings, which built it for $1.5 billion, signed an agreement with Sri Lanka taking an 80 per cent stake.

Situated close to the world's busiest shipping lanes, which are vital for India’s interests in the Indian Ocean region, the Chinese takeover of the port has been a concern for India. These concerns aggravated when Sri Lanka allowed Chinese submarines to dock at its port in Colombo in 2014. Chinese control of the port, in India’s view, could result in frequent visits of Chinese naval vessels in the Indian Ocean.

However, the new Sri Lankan government, which assumed power in 2015, has been much more secretive to India’s security concerns. Although fine details of the new agreement have not yet been made public. New agency Reuters has reported that the Sri Lankan government has sought to limit China's role to running commercial operations at the port while it has oversight of broader security.

"We told China that we can't allow the port for military use and that 100 per cent responsibility of security matters should be with the Sri Lankan government,” Sri Lanka’s Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe has said.

In May, Sri Lanka had rejected China's People’s Liberation Army Navy’s request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo.