Sri Lanka to ban Chinese submarines from docking in its waters

Sri Lanka who was having a close relations with China is no longer a friend as the new Government in declared it would not allow Chinese submarines to dock in its ports, a move apparently aimed at allaying its sea neighbor India's concerns.

Colombo acknowledged that such a docking did take place coinciding with the Japanese Prime Minister's visited Colombo on September 7 last year when then president Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power..

But now with the change in government of Sri Lanka,changes in foreign and military policies  are bound to happen.

China has built a seaport and airport in the south of the country, raising fears it is seeking influence in the country while Sri lanka is not in favour of becoming a colony of China or military base for China.
Sri Lanka is concerned with the roughly $5 billion in Chinese loans including the US $1.5 billion for the Colombo Port City project it has and will send its finance minister to Beijing to discuss the issue, the foreign minister said on Saturday, as he also ruled out future Chinese submarine visits to the country.

"I really do not know what circumstances led to some submarines coming to the port of Colombo on the very day the Japanese Prime Minister (Shinzo Abe) was visiting Sri Lanka," Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told , disclosing for the first time that the docking coincided with Abe's Colombo visit.

"But we will ensure that such incidents from whatever quarters does not happen during our tenure," said Samaraweera, who held extensive talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean region has opened a new area of rivalry for the two Asian countries.

With an aim of expanding its area of influence in Asia, China docked submarine Changzheng-2 and warship Chang Xing Dao at Colombo harbor for five days and is  already in conflict with Japan especially over the disputed islands in the South China Sea

China had stated that docking was "nothing unusual" as it is common international practice for warships to stop for refuelling at ports abroad. It had said the submarines were part of the fleet of warships deployed in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

Samaraweera, who visited India first after taking charge followed by the new President Maithripala Sirisena, said his government's foreign policy is to bring Sri Lanka "back to the centre".

Elaborating further Sri lanka's new policy barring hosting of foreign submarines,Samaraweera said "Back to centre meant I don't think it has any bearing on Sri Lanka-China relations. It will remain as ever. We will strengthen relations further with China as we are doing with the rest of the world. Back to the centre I meant a more balanced foreign policy."

Asked whether there would be any Chinese submarine visits in the near future, Samaraweera said: “I don’t see any”.

Recently,Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) voiced concern over Beijing's land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea.

To counter China in South China Sea, Philippines and Vietnam are forging closer ties while
Beijing has put the construction work  on six reefs it occupies in the Spratlys  on fast track to expand the territories, building ports, an airfield and communications and surveillance facilities.

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