Sri Lankan Minister says they can’t tolerate violations of local language laws at Chinese project sites

A Sri Lankan Minister has said that they can’t tolerate violations of local language laws at Chinese project sites which use only Mandarin and English.

Minister of national integration and official languages Mano Ganeshan said in a tweet that his ministry has received complaints in this regard and initiated action adding that Chinese in Sri Lanka should respect local laws. The comments assume significance as there were tensions between Sri Lankan and Chinese workers recently at a project site which also resulted in few injuries.

Chinese companies have invested heavily in Sri Lanka as part of government Óne belt, one road’ strategy and there is growing criticism over the issue of debt trap created due to such investments.Western nations and India have also expressed concern over possible military use of some investments including Hambantota port which has been leased to a chinese company for 99 years.

Chinese government has maintained that there investments are purely commercial in nature.