The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief has held China responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse, saying Colombo’s “dumb bets” on high-debt Chinese investment have led to the catastrophic outcomes.
“The Chinese have a lot of weight to throw around and they can make a very appealing case for their investments,” William Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday.
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“Nations should look at a place like Sri Lanka today — heavily indebted to China — which has made some really dumb bets about their economic future and are suffering pretty catastrophic, both economic and political, consequences as a result,” he added.
Burns warned that the situation in Sri Lanka should be a lesson to other countries in the Middle East and South Asia.
“That, I think, ought to be an object lesson to a lot of other players — not just in the Middle East or South Asia, but around the world — about having your eyes wide open about those kinds of dealings.”
Sri Lanka has borrowed from several countries, including China that turned out to be white elephant projects.
