Sri Lanka gave a big blow to the Chinese administration by canceling the deal with a Chinese firm.
An agreement was signed for the construction of 3 solar and wind hybrid power generation facilities, the responsibility of which has now been handed over to the Indian company.
This project was initially funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, now it has received a grant of 11 million dollars from the Government of India.
The Indian government has already expressed concern over this deal between Sri Lanka and China, in view of which this agreement with the Chinese company was temporarily canceled two years ago.
Now the deal with the Indian company has increased the tension of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the last few years, the participation of Chinese companies in neighboring countries has increased. India has been concerned about this and has now started efforts to counter it.
In this series, Bengaluru based Indian company U-Solar will now take the contract which was to be given to the Chinese company. A statement was issued by the Indian Embassy regarding this matter.
It said that the impact of India’s assistance can be seen in the form of bilateral energy partnership. It is known that under this deal, the target is to produce a total of 2,230 kilowatts of renewable energy.
For this, all three facilities will be built on islands near Jaffna, the northern city of Sri Lanka.
This is the third India supported major project in Sri Lanka
This energy project is the third India-supported major project in Sri Lanka. National Thermal Power Corporation is preparing a solar venture in East Sampur city. Adani Group is engaged in setting up renewable energy projects in Mannar and Poonarrin in the north.
In March 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries regarding the third energy project. During this period, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar was on a tour of the South Asian country.
Some time ago, Sri Lanka had banned the entry of researcher ships into the Indian Ocean region for one year. The Chinese government seems to be upset by this decision.
The Chinese administration wants Sri Lanka to withdraw the ban on foreign research vessels operating within its exclusive economic zone. This ban came into effect from January 3 this year after India’s objection.
Sri Lanka has already banned Chinese spy ships
On January 5, Sri Lanka had refused entry to a Chinese ship named Jiang Yang Hong Three. The Sri Lankan government said it has banned foreign research vessels from entering its territorial waters for a year.
India had expressed concern over the anchoring of China’s research ship in its neighbourhood. Coincidentally, this Chinese ship was near the site of the India-Maldives-Sri Lanka trilateral ‘Dosti-16’ exercise. This exercise took place between 22 February and 25 February.
A US think tank has alleged that a huge fleet of Chinese ‘scientific research’ ships is collecting data from the seas, including the Indian Ocean region, for military purposes, especially submarine operations.
China has denied this allegation. It says its ships operate under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention.