Jaffna University's Vice Chancellor Sivakolundu Srisatkunarajah refused to sign the MoU with China, claiming that the deal has a hidden agenda of China grabbing fertile lands under the guise of development projects in the North and East.
Meanwhile, the Students' Union urged the government not to sign Memorandums of Understanding with China against the people's will.
On November 28, Sri Lanka's Student Union of Jaffna University issued an official statement expressing shock that a "secret arrangement was made to sign an MoU strongly supported by the Government of Sri Lanka." According to media sources, the Students' Union expressed gratitude to their Vice Chancellor for refusing to sign the MoU. The statement went on to say that both directly and indirectly, China grabbed large swaths of sea area under the guise of promoting sea cucumber farms, dividing their fishermen.
"Now, China is plotting to seize the fertile agricultural lands of the North and East to manage a severe food crisis that appears to be looming in China in ten years. China allegedly supplied faecal matter contaminated with harmful bacteria to Sri Lanka as fertiliser and forced the country to pay millions of rupees."
"This is a classic example of how China will seize our fertile agricultural lands and enslave us to manage China's looming food crisis," the statement continued. According to the statement, Sri Lanka became a victim of the current situation due to non-transparent and unsustainable Chinese loans.
Even in the current loan resettlement negotiations, though Japan and India have supported Sri Lanka's IMF plans, China has been persistent in its proposal for refinancing rather than restructuring with hidden agendas resulting in disaster, as seen in Sri Lanka's recent history with China, according to Ceylon Today. Based on China's approach, the Student Union suspected that the Sri Lankan government had already made secret deals with Beijing to sell the fertile agricultural lands and seas to China in the north and east.
