Chinese hand seen behind blocking India’s bid to develop ECT at Colombo port
February 05, 2021
A view of the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port - Meera Srinivasan×
Beijing strikes back
China is said to have succeeded in blocking India’s efforts to gain a presence in Colombo port, a regional container transhipment hub, as the skirmishes along the border and the Centre’s pushback against Chinese goods and investments spills over into a strategic port project that India is keen to build, ironically, to check growing Chinese presence in the region.
Earlier this week, the Sri Lankan cabinet is understood to have scrapped a tripartite memorandum of cooperation (MoC) signed in May 2019 with Japan and India to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at Colombo Port in the wake of strong protests from port unions. Instead, Sri Lanka is believed to have offered the proposed West Container Terminal (WCT) project to India and Japan.
Prof. N.A. De S Amaratunga in his piece “Is government in self-destructive mode? in The Island of 22 Jan. said more than 60% of people who voted for this government were poor rural people and he has emphasized the need to focus on these people. The livelihood of nearly 70% of those living in rural areas is farming. As per the policy manifesto of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ (
‘Rata Hadana Saubhagyaye Dekma’), one of the main objectives of the government is creating a people-centered economy through rural development. The Finance Minister in his budget speech presented recently, too, emphasized the importance of improving the Rural Economy. Thus, the government has emphasized the need to improve the rural economy.
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