CHINESE
CHECKER, & SRILANKA.
THE GAME, AND
THE VICTIM
END GAME: AND SURVIVAL
NUVE COLONEALISM BY ECONOMIC TEETH OF DRAGON
SARASIJ
MAJUMDER
Sri Lanka and many other poor peripheral countries are in serious debt distress; it is regularly
argued that they are in a 'debt trap' caused by taking loans from China to
such an extent that they cannot repay them and then China insists on taking
over the country's assets to meet the bill.
In case of SRI LANKA, it was just the addition of Chinese
Debt that derailed the otherwise fragile
economy.
We will look this in details:-
A.LOOK FOR THE COUNTERY
SUITABLE FOR HUNTING:-
The
Chinese Chow-Min for Economic Disaster:
The
China have developed the perfect formula, and combination for trapping poor nations with GREEDY, & CORRUPT
LEADERS into a spiral of debts from
which the COUNTRY would never recover. It is the cornerstone of China’s (now
infamous) Debt Trap Diplomacy. To apply this, China identifies:
1.
A small nation,
2.
Corrupt Ruling Elite or ruled by Dynasties,
3.
Undercurrents exists for Political instability,
4.
A prolonged background of Economic Mismanagement---OR, LOOTING.
B. NOW APPLY THE ABOVE FACTORS AND FIND OUT
STATES:
There
are quite a few around us.
All
of these factors fitted in with a sinister precision in the case of Sri Lanka.
Sri
Lanka is a small island nation with a population of roughly 22 million. And was
with Undercurrents of Political Instability.
Sri
Lanka's Buddhist monks have combined Buddhism with militancy to create a deadly
cocktail of political power that no ruling party can ignore. It had become a
proven fact that without the political support & blessings of these
extremist monks, it is impossible to form a government in Sri Lanka.
The
hatred of native Sinhalese against the ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka has proven to
be an ideal breeding ground for this breed of militant Buddhism to sprout and
flourish.
The
Ruling family of Sri Lanka, the Rakpaksas were known to regularly seek the
blessings of the Buddhist monks as an “assurance” to
political survival and longevity.
Too
long it has been ruled by a CORRUPT political dynasty of the Rajapaksas.
THE
BAIT IS--A bag of Chinese Infrastructure Loans @ 6% or more… the cherry to top
it off. VOILA—the Island Ruler is HOOKED!
Economic Mismanagement:
A
lot has already been written on the "visionless" economics
practiced by the ruling Rajapaksas. I will refrain from repeating those details,
available in the internet..
Chinese Loans and Sri Lanka’s Entrapment:
At
the Munich Security Conference in February, 2022, the
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen asked a very
pointed question to Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar who was on stage during a Q&A session. It
was about whether to accept loans from China when they are so readily offered.
Mr.
Jaishankar cautioned his Bangladeshi counterpart in a diplomatic manner.
Many
LEFT LIBERAL writers on social media and print media have gone at lengths to
explain why the Chinese had no hand in Sri Lanka's downfall. Every communist
regime needs an army of useful idiots to build the narrative and run
misinformation.
Chinese government and their "wumao" crowd are no exceptions.
But,
the questions that keep cropping up are - Why is it that small nations
that have powerful and corrupt ruling classes, bite the bait of Chinese loans
and then run their economies into a financial quagmire from which any
redemption seems impossible? From Africa to Asia, there is a clearly
identifiable pattern of economic collapse with small nations wherever the
Chinese have lent money, primarily because the money was lent at such high
interest rates, mostly for a non-viable project, which could not be paid back.
The
Rajapaksas invited the Chinese to build a port in Hambantota and an airport at Mattila.
The Sri Lankans borrowed heavily from the Chinese at an exorbitant interest
rate of 6.5%. As with all Chinese loans there was a confidentiality clause that
Sri Lanka could never divulge interest rate details and other stipulations of
the loans to any 3rd party. Zero percent
transparency is a hallmark of all Chinese
loans, as is also the case with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is only now when the Sri
Lankan ship is sinking that the figure of 6.5% interest rate on Chinese loans
is coming out into the open.
According
to Sri Lankan investigative journalists, the Rajapaksas pocketed a 10% to 20%
cut from these deals in the form of kickbacks and the Chinese were more than
happy to grease the palms that begged greasing. They have done the same to the
military generals and the political elites in Pakistan under the garb of CPEC.
Finally,
when the projects were completed it was found to be completely unviable
from business perspective. Not a ship
came to Hambantota nor any plane landed at Mattila.
WHY SRIL LANKA BLAME INDIA?
Because
India did not have information to foresee the collapse of the Sri Lankan
economy and warn them in time.
Because
India did not extend the cushy infrastructure loans for building EMPTY PORTS AND EMPTY AIRPORTS IN SRI LANKA
which China did so readily.
Because
India did not “wine and dine” the ruling “Rajapaksas”,
the way China did.
India
just did not play up to the Lankans the role that “Rajapaksas” wanted,
and China did.
Blame
it on India! A PET GAME !!
Who can bail out Sri Lanka now and what’s needed?
According
to a think tank in Singapore, Sri Lanka needs an emergency bailout
package of $22 billion to survive and crawl out of the hole it has dug itself
into. The same think tank goes on to say that there are currently, only 3
entities globally that have the required
- financial capacity,
- economic expertise and
- experience of working
with Sri Lanka
to
help the island nation emerge from its current state of bankruptcy. Those
entities (according to the think tank) are China, India and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
I
am surprised how “USA” is not mentioned in the list.
China has
so far closed its doors to the mess it has exacerbated in Sri Lanka.
The IMF is watching silently from the sidelines. India is
the only nation that is doing what it can to keep the Sri Lankan nation
afloat. India has even initiated a dialog with the IMF on behalf of
Sri Lanka to negotiate a survival package.
WHAT INDIA DID:-
INDIA
& RUSSIA is investing in the
operation of AIRPORT.
India has already given a Loan of 500
MMUSD + a credit line of 2 Billion USD to SRI LANKA.
India is also trying IMF to help out
SRI LANKA.
Incidentally,
Nepal is suffering with another empty Airport built by China—and begging
India’s support.
WHAT EMERGE:-
So,
what went wrong in the nation that was once termed an island paradise?
As
always, when it comes to Chinese involvement there are always 2 versions of the
truth - the version that China wants the world to believe and then the real
version of the truth.
In
recent times, ever since President Xi Jinping has come to power, any tiny
nation that has collapsed or gone to a point of no return along the slope of
economic downfall has DRAGON HAND, or, let me say—"ECONOMIC HELP”
There
are too many repetitions—but GREED & CORRUPTION by RULING POWERS… and Chinese Checker is
continued.
NOTES:-
1.0
Some of the references listed are used for data, and information only.
2.0
You can share the URL i.e. Link of this BLOG.
REFERENCES:-
1.0
https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/sri-lankas-economic-crisis
5.0
Articles Published bin Hindu, and I.E. on the subject.
Image & CHART:- GOOGLE
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