By Meera Sirinivasan
Sri Lanka has received a stock of bomb squad equipment through a grant from the Chinese military, the Sri Lankan army has said.
The Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Qi Zhenhong handed over the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) equipment to the Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence General Kamal Gunaratne (Rtd) in a ceremony held on March 13, according to a media statement. The equipment will be used primarily for screening, bomb detection, and disposal, according to Army sources in Colombo. The statement did not mention the cost of the equipment.
The development came a day after the United States Department of Defence commenced a training programme for Sri Lanka’s Air Force for enhanced protection of the island’s maritime resources,to counter illicit trafficking and monitor its exclusive economic zone. It also coincided with the Chinese People Liberation Army’s recent engagement in the region, including in Sri Lanka.
On March 7, a senior Chinese military official was in Colombo for talks with the military establishment. Deputy Chief of the Office for International Military Cooperation (OMIC) of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China, Major General Zhang Baoqun met Gen. Gunaratne (Rtd) to “exchange perspectives on prevalent regional security challenges and explore avenues for joint initiatives on enhancing maritime security collaborations on mutual ground,” a press release from the Sri Lankan army said.
Beijing on Wednesday confirmed that a military delegation visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal from March 4 to 13 to discuss further defence cooperation. During the delegation’s visit to the Maldives, the island nation’s Minister of Defence signed a pact with Major General Zhang Baoqun for military assistance from — and stronger bilateral ties with — China.
Beijing’s enhanced military engagement in the region remains a cause for concern in New Delhi, even as India and Sri Lanka maintain long-standing defence ties, and currently have an annual defence dialogue at the level of Secretary to the Defence Ministry. The seventh round of the dialogue was held in New Delhi on February 23, 2023, where both sides agreed to “increase the complexity of bilateral exercises.” Sri Lanka has a Liaison Officer posted at the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) located in Gurugram.
Sri Lanka is also part of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC), along with Mauritius and the Maldives, and Bangladesh and Seychelles, that are observer-states. However, the Maldives skipped the 6th NSA-level meeting of the CSC held in Mauritius in December, months after President Mohamed Muizzu was elected.