The United National Party says that the people of Sri Lanka will become citizens of a “Chinese colony” in the near future, due to the vast amount of loans the island nation has obtained from the Asian powerhouse.

Claiming that the government is now entangled in a severe issue, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake stated that the President, following his visit to China last week, announced that Sri Lanka has received another loan from that country.

“The government is trying to show that obtaining a loan is a great development,” he said addressing a press conference in Colombo today.

But this “loan trap” is such that nothing can stop us Sri Lankans from becoming citizens of a Chinese colony in the near future, he said. “We are gradually becoming citizens of a Chinese colony.”

The reason for this is because the government is no longer receiving loans under concessionary conditions, due to the “government misleading the international community and the accusation on human rights violations,” Attanayake said.

He stated that monetary institutions have rejected providing loans to Sri Lanka on concessionary policies due to these reasons and that the government has now become solely dependent on loans provided by Chinese banks.

The UNP MP stated that obtaining loans from China is not an agreement between governments, and that it’s an “intermediary deal” as Chinese banks provide these loans for development projects with conditions.

He stated that the main conditions are that the development projects linked to the loans should be contracted to a Chinese company though the bank while Chinese equipment and workforce should be utilized to carry it out.