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Following a historic visit to Jaffna Library, Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, and meeting fishermen in Mannar, China's ambassador to Sri Lanka met with the leader of Sri Lanka's opposition Sajith Premadasa and donated 8 kidney dialysis machines worth an estimated Rs. 20 million to hospitals across the North-East provinces.
The meeting with Premadasa follows a series of public spats between the Rajapaksa administration and the Chinese over Colombo’s cancellation of a fertiliser import. Chinese plans to solar power plants on islands off the Jaffna peninsula have also been abandoned following cited "security concerns" of a "third party".
The move also follows a worsening economic crisis in Sri Lanka with growing discontent over the Rajapaksa administration across the island.
Responding to the growing presence of China in the Tamil homeland, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, Shritharan Sivagnanam, suggested Sri Lankan government is deliberately encouraging Chinese activities in order to overshadow India’s influence on the island. He further described the advances as yet another attempt to snuff out Tamil self-determination.
“We will never accept Chinese activities (in our homeland),” he maintained.
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