Sri Lanka gave a big blow to China

Colombo: Sri Lanka has dealt a big blow to China, who exploited it by trapping it in the debt trap. A rare diplomatic war has erupted between the two countries after Sri Lanka rejected a consignment of poor quality organic fertilizer. Colombo had tied up with Chinese company Qingdao Siwin Bio-Tech Group in an effort to make Sri Lanka the world’s first fully organic farming country. But due to the rejection of the first consignment of 20 thousand tonnes by Sri Lanka, the strategic tension between the two countries has increased.

The National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQ), an agency of the Sri Lankan government, has refused to accept the goods. It has said that the samples taken from the cargo have been found to contain pathogens, which can damage the crop. According to a BBC report, Dr. Ajantha de Silva, Director General of the Sri Lankan Department of Agriculture, said that examination of samples taken from the cargo shows that the fertilizers are not sterile. “We have found bacteria that can damage crops like carrots and potatoes,” he said.

Since the goods were not allowed to be unloaded in Sri Lanka, the state-run fertilizer company received a court order to withhold $9 million in payments to the state-owned People’s Bank. It is not clear whether the buyer can withhold payment as per the agreement. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo has responded by blacklisting the bank for stopping payments. In late October, the Twitter handle of the Chinese Embassy tweeted a timeline of events announcing the blacklisting of the Sri Lankan state-run bank.
However, the embassy has not given any clarification on the quality of the fertilizer. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the cargo had passed third-party testing. He also said that China always attaches great importance to the quality of exports. Qingdao Siwin accused the Sri Lankan media of using derogatory terms to “malign the image of Chinese enterprises and the Chinese government”. It also sought compensation of $8 million from NPQ for damage to reputation that occurred after the dispute.

The company has said that the method of investigation adopted by Sri Lanka’s NPQ is not in accordance with international standards. Experts are unsure about how long Sri Lanka will stand up to Beijing as China is stuck in a debt trap. The BBC report, quoting Sri Lankan officials, said that fertilizers that do not comply with the existing rules will not be allowed to enter the country at any cost.