Warning from China ahead of Pompeo's visit to Sri Lanka

China warned the United States on Tuesday (October 27) that it should not "

" Sri Lanka, before a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to this strategically located Indian Ocean island.

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During his visit to Colombo, Mike Pompeo is expected to ask Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, near Beijing, to make tough choices.

"

" , said the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.

Mike Pompeo started Monday with New Delhi a tour of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.

At the start of his tour, the head of US diplomacy for South Asia, Dean Thompson, indicated that the secretary of state would ask Colombo to re-examine the possibilities offered by Washington.

Mike Pompeo's visit to Sri Lanka comes less than three weeks after that of the main conductor of Chinese diplomacy, Yang Jiechi.

The latter, the most senior official of the Chinese Communist Party for foreign policy, had pledged to increase economic aid to Sri Lanka.

Heavy debt to China

Colombo is heavily indebted to China to develop its infrastructure and seek political support from the UN in order to push back accusations of human rights violations, especially in the last months of the long civil war with the Tamil minority .

Washington insists on the credibility of investigations accusing the Sri Lankan army of having killed at least 40,000 civilians to crush the rebellion in 2009.

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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was at the time one of the highest ranking officers in the army and his older brother Mahinda, the current prime minister, was then president.

The alliance of the Rajapaksa brothers won the legislative elections in August.

Mike Pompeo is expected to raise the issue of human rights during his meeting with the Rajapaksa brothers scheduled for Wednesday in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan capital is placed in partial containment due to an increase in cases of infections with the new coronavirus.

The US Secretary of State is also due to lay a wreath at St. Anthony's Church in Colombo where 56 people were killed in the coordinated jihadist attacks that left a total of 279 dead, including five Americans, on Easter Sunday in three churches. and three hotels.