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China has no military presence in SL
Oct 29, 201412:20 PM
Sri Lankan Navy Chief Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera has assured India that China has no military presence in the island nation, saying that New Delhi should not worry about such a scenario.
India has expressed serious concern to Sri Lanka over China’s increasing military presence on the island, The Hindu newspaper reported.
The chief of Naval Staff has made it clear that Colombo will never compromise with India’s security by allowing any country to increase its military presence in Sri Lanka. “We have very good co-operation with India. We will never compromise on national security of India. India’s security is our security. Not only Chinese, even the Russians and other countries also we have very good relationship.
We are non-aligned country,” Vice Admiral Perera told the Indian media in New Delhi upon his arrival in the Indian capital on Monday on a five-day visit. The Sri Lankan Navy chief tried his best to address India’s concerns, stressing that China is making no strategic inroad into the region. He also said: “They are coming normally for operational goodwill visit. For your information, there is no Chinese military presence. The interest is very commercial.” Meanwhile, he called himself as a friend of India and thanked the Indian government for helping his country in ending the decades-long ethnic conflict.
According to him, it is not possible for Sri Lanka to make economic revival without receiving support from India. He told reporters: “I must thank India. They wholeheartedly supported to relegate terrorism. Now, we are very fast track on development and because of that, there are lot of investors coming in Sri Lanka.” Earlier, New Delhi had expressed serious concern when Chinese nuclear submarines docked in a Sri Lankan port.
However, the Navy chief claimed that those are conventional submarines and not nuclear submarines. Later, Vice Admiral Perera received a guard of honour and met his Indian counterpart Admiral R K Dhowan. The Indian Navy said in a statement that the two Navy chiefs discussed various aspects of bilateral defence ties. According to the statement, India may supply two naval offshore patrol vessels and other military equipment to its southern neighbour. (Source - inserbia.info)
