Colombo (LNW): India’s Defence minister Rajnath Singh will head for Sri Lanka this weekend to further bolster bilateral military ties and cooperation to meet the challenges in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), in a visit that comes amid China’s ever-growing presence in the region, which has also seen some of its naval ships as well as ‘spy’ vessels docking at Sri Lankan ports, a report by Times of India disclosed.
Singh is slated to meet Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his visit to the island nation on September 2-3.
Noting that India is committed to help Sri Lankan armed forces in “capacity and capability-building”, an official said New Delhi has extended a $150 million defence line of credit to Colombo. “Out of this, around $100 million credit has been utilised so far,” he said.
Singh’s visit comes soon after Chinese warship Hai Yang 24 Hao docked at Colombo earlier this month. Beijing has also sought Colombo’s nod for a visit by its survey vessel Shiyan-6 in October-November.
India in the past has conveyed its strong concerns to Sri Lanka over allowing Chinese naval and spy vessels to dock at its ports.
The docking of Chinese vessel Yuan Wang-5 at Hambantota in August last year had, in fact, led to a major diplomatic wrangle between India and Sri Lanka.
Source: Times of India
