Sri Lankan President Wants Japan to Lead Debt Talks; Visits Japan in September…Major Creditor Countries Include Japan, China, India

Sri Lankan President Wants Japan to Lead Debt Talks; Visits Japan in September…Major Creditor Countries Include Japan, China, India

“Hopes for Japanese initiative in debt talks.
Sri Lankan President to visit Japan in September

Sri Lanka’s President Wickramasinghe told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that he would ask Japan to take the lead in debt restructuring talks and is considering visiting Japan in September to meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Major creditor countries include Japan, China, and India. Sri Lanka is continuing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance, while at the same time holding talks with its creditor countries. However, China continues to take a cautious stance on debt reduction, and the outlook is highly uncertain.

India and China are at odds over territorial disputes. They are vying to increase their influence over Sri Lanka, making debt negotiations more difficult.

https://www.47news.jp/news/8201506.html

“Why should Japan negotiate with the CCP?
We can’t, we can’t.”

“We should cooperate on this.
It’s worse if China takes India’s southern sea lanes.”

“Don’t play with them.
This is the country that betrayed Japan.
It’s too good to be treated like that by the Chinese and expect Japan to clean up the mess.
(Sri Lanka’s plan to build a next-generation tramway, the LRT, was cancelled without Japan’s consent, a project worth about US$1.7 billion).”

Why don’t you get China to help you out?

Japan only when it suits them.

Japan may be able to defer payment, so why don’t you let India handle it?

“If you intervene badly and only take the money and it belongs to China, it’s better to be on India’s shoulders.”

“Basically, you can’t complain about foreign debt.
That’s why the world is full of foreign debt.
Only Japan has domestic debt.”

Even if Japan helps, the money goes to China.

“Japan has been the biggest donor to Sri Lanka.
You betrayed Japan to curry favor with China.
They unilaterally cancelled the construction of the railroad and other projects, why should we help them?”

“It looks like a trap.
It’s a nation that China put in debt, isn’t it?”

To sum up, “Japan should pay up.”

“You didn’t ask for that much.
I mean, the intention on the part of Sri Lanka would be to forgive the debt.”

Shameless or what…. I’m also angry at the low level of Japanese diplomacy, which is being completely licked.

If Japan would just accept the compression here, it would change the international reputation of China. Well, I guess there are circumstances that make it impossible.

China must have put you up to this.

Well, China doesn’t have money either.

“The Chinese have more interest in Sri Lanka than international recognition.
“This is a no-brainer.”

“Why don’t they just do what the Chinese do?
“Let them give us the rights to the port.”

Even if we get that, it’s just going to cost us more money to build the port.

“Wow.
If it were Kishida, he would have said yes with two words.”

How many times have we done this? It’s not the first time, is it?

“You’re asking me to be the chairman, so why don’t you just accept?
And you should make your presence felt.

“You should leave those things to the IMF.
Huh?　The IMF is unresponsive to Sri Lanka?”

“The CCP and India are playing a tug-of-war over Sri Lanka’s interests.
So, if Japan goes in as a mediator, Japan will lose a lot of money.”

“If the debtor countries are Japan, China and India…
I’d say Japan, even by process of elimination.
China will act in its own interest.
India would act for its own defense.
Japan would be more likely to act to repay its debts and rebuild its national infrastructure.”

“I get the impression that you are a loan debtor …
they was borrowing from all over the place.
No one would lend me anything.
they got into Chinese black market money, and then I couldn’t pay that back either.
they gave up the port for 99 years.

The U.S. got scared and pulled out of the civil war, and China intervened.”

If Japan agrees to defer repayment, that amount will go to China.

If the debt is to be reduced, all creditor countries should be fairly exempted, if one country refuses, only that country will laugh.

“China is charging black money level interest rates.
It doesn’t matter how much aid other countries give, it’s the same.”

“But China continues to be cautious about reducing its debt.

It’s not going to be able to recover the money.”

“The Chinese and the Indians are both after Sri Lanka’s interests, so it won’t be unrecoverable.
That’s why they won’t make any concessions.”

“Well, it’s a delicious position to be in, and Japan, which is not so concerned about Sri Lanka
Japan, which is less concerned about Sri Lanka, is more likely to agree to an equivalent exchange of concessions, so it’s a good way to adjust the distribution.

China, India, and Japan are the top 3 lenders to Sri Lanka, and the port that was taken by China in 1999 is right next to a major Asian shipping route, so it’s a mess.

In short, you’re just saying that Japan’s money should be used to take care of China’s debt, right?

“Well, Sri Lanka was the first country to raise its hand to establish diplomatic relations with Japan after the war.
Wouldn’t it be better to welcome the U.S. military base?”

Sri Lanka borrowed money from China at 6% interest. It borrowed money from Japan and India at about 1% interest, so it would have switched to them, but Sri Lanka’s major industries are dead.

“There will be no free deferrals or debt forgiveness.
You could exchange the Sri Lankan concession for the Indo-China concession in exchange for consideration.”

“You might as well ask the US as a third party now.
With the cooperation of India and Japan, of course.
And then we can make a treaty where we can never, ever go to the Red Team side.
Japan would lose some money, but not much.
It’s better than having the Red Team in that position.”