MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China extends influence to Sri Lanka, finances and builds new port

President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka has unveiled a new seaport, the showpiece among a series of big new infrastructure projects on the island. The port in southern Hambantota was built with Chinese assistance as part of a 6 billion US dollars drive to rebuild infrastructure after the war.

It has four terminals, two for cargo and two for fuel bunkering. A second, equally big, phase is being built. The government hopes the port will get business from some of the 70,000 ships that cross the Indian Ocean each year. The first ships will arrive in November.

Sea water was released into the new port by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, breaching the remaining piece of land separating the site from the Indian Ocean. About a metre's depth of seawater will flow in each day for nearly three weeks.

Mr Rajapaksa paid tribute to the project's financier, China, in his speech. Most of the project's workers are Chinese, employees of two state-owned companies, and China's Exim Bank has lent 85% of the cost.

China is now the biggest lender to Sri Lanka - it is also funding a large coal power station, roads and railways, and an airport near the new seaport.

The government says the ever-closer ties with China are purely commercial. But some geopolitical analysts speculate that this port's future phases might afford Beijing a naval facility, a prospect that worries Sri Lanka's close neighbour and major benefactor, India.