Amidst signs of New Delhi’s disappointment over Colombo’s decision to allow a Chinese tracking vessel to dock in Hambantota, Sri Lanka’s envoy in India called for building a new “framework” on how to deal with such maritime security concerns in the future. Speaking to The Hindu days after the Chinese satellite and missile tracking ship, the Yuan Wang 5 had departed from the Sri Lankan port after “refuelling and replenishing supplies”, High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda said that Colombo had kept the Modi government briefed at the “highest levels” through the controversy.
In a possible sign of the strain in ties over the issue, the Ministry of External Affairs had issued a rare “travel guidance” on Thursday cautioning Indian tourists about visiting Sri Lanka, which is in the middle of a deep economic crisis. Without commenting on the MEA advisory, Mr. Moragoda said it was important to look to the future of ties, particularly in terms of India-Sri Lanka cooperation in the economic and strategic sphere. Apart from economic assistance of $3.8 billion, including credit lines from India, New Delhi and Colombo are discussing more trade ties, a power-sharing grid, and infrastructure projects in renewable energy and oil storage. India has also supported Sri Lanka in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
“There is no question that the docking of the ship was an issue between us. The question is how to build a framework for such problems in order to avoid them in the future, and not to allow this kind of issue to lead to a trust deficit,” Mr. Moragoda said, adding that despite “ups and downs”, Sri Lanka would like to “build an equilibrium in the relationship, where there are no surprises”.
