China in Sri Lanka, News

Namal defends Chinese funded projects in Sri Lanka

08 Nov, 2018

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, defended the projects funded by China in Sri Lanka.

In an interview with India Today, Namal Rajapaksa insisted that the projects were purely commercial and that China assisted Sri Lanka with several infrastructure projects.

Namal Rajapaksa also noted that the Hambantota Port and the Mattala Airport projects were first offered to India but nothing happened.

“At the end of the day we as politicians must look at the interest of our people. So we went to China and they were generous to come forward and immediately stated the projects. But all those projects are based on commercial transactions,” he said.

Rajapaksa also said that when his father was President, Sri Lanka had very strong bilateral relations with several countries, not just China.

He said that European countries as well as India and China invested heavily in Sri Lanka.

Rajapaksa said that the public were however misled on Sri Lanka’s relationship with China and India.

He said that the new Government will look to build a robust and resilient relationship with India. (Colombo Gazette)

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