Why a Chinese ship's arrival in Sri Lanka has caused alarm in India and the West
A Chinese survey ship docked this week at the Hambantota port, built with Chinese loans. Some worry the ship's arrival may signal the start of militarization of Chinese infrastructure in Sri Lanka.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — It all began 20 years ago, when China loaned Sri Lanka more than $1 billion to build a fancy new port — what would become its second-largest — on its southern coast.
The Hambantota port, with its strategic location near busy Indian Ocean shipping routes, was touted as good for Sri Lankan commerce. But it wasn't profitable, and the government defaulted on those Chinese loans.
Then China foreclosed, taking over the port's operations in 2017 on a 99-year lease.
Beijing's critics have long offered up Hambantota as the classic example of what they call a Chinese debt trap. Now, with Sri Lanka bankrupt and politically unstable, they're flagging it as a worrying example of how China
