Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government was committed to purchasing at least two more military transport planes from China, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
“I have travelled around in some of the Chinese transport planes we have,” said Mr Wickremesinghe. “They are good workhorses. Some people have raised questions about their quality but I have always said, ‘Look, as far as I am concerned, I will always underwrite Chinese military transport planes’.”
“We will buy two more,” he confirmed.
The Sri Lankan prime minister went on to state that the “only thing is getting the US federal aviation clearance, without which there might be insurance issues for Western tourists”. The purchase of military planes may also be used for tourism, he stated.
“Since our airports have excess capacity, we will try to get dual-use military planes that can also carry tourists. We are talking to the Chinese to see if we can get planes that can conform to these norms,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.
In his interview, he went on to state that Sri Lanka’s loss making Hambantota port, could be transformed with the help of China. The port – currently costing Sri Lanka S$147 million a year in debt repayment - “couldn’t even meet the recurring expenses, let alone debt repayment,” admitted Mr Wickremesinghe. But with the help of the Chinese government, it could work as well Shenzhen, he claimed.
See the full interview here.