Prominent Sri Lankan MP Wijeydasa Rajapakshe Accuses China Of Debt-Trap Diplomacy

Prominent Sri Lankan Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Wijeydasa Rajapakshe has accused China of indulging in the economic invasion, corruption and debt-trap diplomacy in the island nation.

Dr Rajapakshe was one of the few courageous politicians who spoke out against China's debt trap and had the audacity to write to Chinese President Xi Jinping about 'enhancing mutual cooperation and rebuilding reciprocal trust and confidence between the two countries, according to Hongkong Post.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's former Justice Minister and Education Minister warned that the next national election, whether presidential or parliamentary, would be combined with a referendum to seek a mandate from the people to restructure or cancel all agreements/contracts that are harmful or disadvantageous to Sri Lanka.

"In the event of any restructuring, under no circumstances the period of any agreement will be permitted to exceed a period of 15 years from the date of the inception of such contracts," he noted.

Further, he stated that any agreement China had made with Selendiva (A private company that leases land to China in Colombo) to take over lands in Colombo would be declared null and void ab initio, with no compensation or payment of damages.

Earlier, Dr Rajapakshe had to resign from his cabinet portfolio because he couldn't stomach the rate of corruption involving China and had previously openly criticised both the government and the Chinese, according to Hongkong Post.

Last year, he launched a scathing attack on both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, strategist Basil Rajapaksa, the current Finance Minister, over the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill.

Meanwhile, he stated that China's One Belt One Road (OBR) diverted the two countries' ties under the guise of strengthening China's forward policy and economic strategy.

"It is plain that your friendship with us is no longer genuine and candid; instead, you use our relations to achieve your ambition of becoming a world power at the expense of our innocent people's lives," he said.