Hambantota port
Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Hambantota is a port on Sri Lanka's southern coast. It was built with loans from China. Sri Lanka could not repay the loans, so in 2017 it leased the port to China Merchants Port Holdings for 99 years. The case is often called "debt-trap diplomacy", which means using loans to gain control of another country's key assets. It worries India because the port lies close to busy Indian Ocean shipping lanes.
Example
Hambantota sits near the main east-west sea route that links the Suez Canal with the Malacca Strait. Ships on this route pass just south of Sri Lanka.
Don't confuse with
- Colombo port: Colombo is on Sri Lanka's west coast. It is a major hub where large amounts of Indian cargo are moved from one ship to another. Hambantota is on the south coast and is under a Chinese lease.
Related concepts
- Belt and Road Initiative
- China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
- Gwadar port
- String of pearls
- International North-South Transport Corridor
- Ashgabat Agreement
- India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
- Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor
- Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project
- BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement