Pompeo brings Trump's anti-China message to Sri Lanka

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday brought the Trump administration’s anti-China campaign to Sri Lanka, a nation considered particularly at risk for what American officials allege is Chinese exploitation.

Pompeo is visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives to press the two countries to be on guard against potential predatory lending and investment by China.

Pompeo was making the case less than a week before the American election in which President Donald Trump is seeking to paint his rival, former vice president Joe Biden, as weak on China and beholden to it.

Even before Pompeo arrived in Sri Lanka, China had fired back at the US message, accusing Washington of bullying smaller nations.

US officials complain development and infrastructure projects benefit China more than the presumed recipients - a refrain Pompeo repeated with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Pompeo said the country could be “a beacon” for freedom and democracy in the region as long as it retained its "full sovereignty.”

“The Chinese have a very different vision," Pompeo said. "We want to make sure that the people of Sri Lanka has the capacity to execute their sovereign rights, to remain independent, the freedom to hold elections just like the ones you all have held.”

Gunawardena appeared unwilling to get involved in the spat with China, and said Sri Lanka is willing to cooperate with all friendly countries.

Earlier this month, Beijing announced it would provide Sri Lanka with a $90-million grant to help rural development, after President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa sought help from a visiting Chinese delegation in disproving a perception that China-funded megaprojects are “debt traps.”

China considers Sri Lanka to be a critical link in its massive “Belt and Road” global infrastructure building initiative and has provided billions of dollars in loans for Sri Lankan projects over the past decade.

The projects include a seaport, airport, port-city, highways and power stations.

Critics like the US say that the Chinese-funded projects are not financially viable and that Sri Lanka will face difficulties in repaying the loans.