China appeared to support Sri Lanka's efforts to avert an international probe into allegations its soldiers committed war crimes, saying the Sri Lankan government could handle internal affairs on its own.

Tweet

The Indian Ocean country is facing calls from the West and rights groups for an investigation into what a UN-appointed panel calls "credible allegations" that war crimes were committed at the end of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has sought Chinese and Russian backing as a counterweight to Western pressure.

The UN-backed panel blamed Sri Lankan forces for killing thousands of civilians in the last phase of a three-decade war with Tamil Tiger separatists, and urged an external probe, saying Sri Lanka's own investigation was inadequate.

Stopping short

After a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris in Beijing on Tuesday, China appeared to give tacit support but stopped short of explicitly ruling out an external probe.

"We believe that the government of Sri Lanka and its people have the ability to handle internal affairs and to realize the reconciliation of its people, achieve social stability and economic prosperity," a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.

UN no thanks

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry said Peiris briefed Yang on the government's position on the panel's report. The Sri Lankan government has rejected it as biased, groundless and a threat to its efforts at reconciliation.

China is Sri Lanka's biggest bilateral donor and has financed billions of dollars worth of post-war infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, including the massive Hambantota port on the southern coast, a power plant, airport and highway.

That has irritated India, which has long considered Sri Lanka within its sphere of influence and views the Chinese presence on its island neighbour as a potential security threat.

Source: REUTERS