Some foreign forces want to make Sri Lanka one of their bases. Sirisena said there will be no bilateral agreements "against Sri Lanka's national interest" as long as he was in office. The US had stopped arms sales to Sri Lanka during the height of the island's Tamil separatist war that ended in 2009. China has vowed to keep providing financial help, including loans, to Sri Lanka despite warnings about the island nation's mounting debt. Sri Lanka in 2017 granted a 99-year lease on a strategic port to Beijing because of it could not repay Chinese loans for the $1.4 billion project.

Source: Dhaka Tribune July 06, 2019 12:00 UTC