oh and what is remained of his vision? what's the status of human rights and social justice in what's called the world's largest democracy? we see the i had it. this is the pulpit tour unleash non violent pass and re imagine these teachings for elements to gandhi's legacy. stuart to august 6th on d. w. today on d w. 's asia, a new president for sri lanka, spot can the people expect the same old patron politician delano victor missing a is sporting as then you've leader judges the either nation to come together to find a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades. but does he have the ear of protests and has crisis written, sri lanka got itself into a dead trap?

some critics blamed china's belton road initiative. ah, i'm been fizzle, and welcome to language have been taking to the streets for months, demanding change. the economy's collapsed. food prices go up a free day. it's hard to get your hands on medicine and you have to line up a days for fuel. have a listen to what this demonstrator has to say. you want to give up because what the country need these up does it does is some takes a different, i mean, you want to get rid of this, set up it, buddy vision. so that's what we are doing well, acid liter go to buy a roger poxy who fled the country off to mass protests over his handling of the economy is replaced by prime minister because i'm a single in the right. but he's seen as his ally. protesters want both of them out

. the don't believe in him this, he's not the correct choice at this moment. now i'm, it is very well word that i was dead. garage prisoners later the, the people of she longer has not been given what they deserve, which is peace and all a piece of mind. and the basic necessities being meant, there was high security around the parliamentary complex as became a singer, took on his new role. his office said he wants to form a unity government to manage the turmoil. the new president is a familiar face in sri lanka, beneatha. having served 6 times as prime minister, which in sri lanka is the deputy to the president. he was sworn in and signed himself on as the elected head of state. though in this case, it was parliament we'll elected him. amidst the country's turmoil,

the grandma single election had been greeted by yet another surge of protests and colombo, from the same movement, had pushed out his predecessor as dw corresponded when you're a chaudhry explains why dick, for the past few days that be saw been done, it took over as the prime minister of the country and as the acting president after breads and go to baggage bucks are designed. people have been frustrated that took over the pm's office as well and protested thing that they wanted run into grandma thing not to step down. and now that he has one, they are not happy. the grammar singer has said he will bring opposition lawmakers into his cabinet, but bout a tough line after his election against troublemakers are going to seek to destroy the denton democracy. there must then be dealt with the law by the law. but that i would like to bring it with you on forget it, ronald dick rum, a singer is a lawyer turned politician who won his 1st parliamentary election in 1977. he's

considered a technocrat with deep technical understanding of sri lanka, as economic woes. he says negotiations on an international monetary fund bailout are near a deal, huh. but his toughest task may be distancing himself from his ties to the previous government and convincing those who already want him out that he should stay. let's analyze these with lawyer activists and former commissioner of the human rights commission of sri lanka. and because that could have not done great to have you, he what's going to happen next with the turmoil in your country. well, it's hard to predict because them is and i will become missing. i was sworn as president today, and the fact is he did not win seat to parliament in the general elections in 2020. when he was appointed as prime minister by the previous president to go to

bed. roger fox said that was a lot of opposition. and an upper. busy public up role when he not was nominated to contest for the position of parliament, which he won with the votes of the previous president's party. all of which showed that he does not have public trust or public legitimacy. and also with that he is in a way, a proxy for the roger boxes because they nominated him and their party elected him, which means he's also going to be protecting them and they might just turn out to be more of the same no matter the lack of legitimacy or his links, does he have the ability to, to fix the nation's problems despite that? well, the point is that we, well, one would hope he does. but also the issue is that we must not look to him only as

an individual. and there are many who are saying that the other candidates, for instance, would not have been able to. and i think that one of the problems that trailer has always had is focusing on individuals in making them save us instead of focusing on our institutions and our processes and strengthening them. whoever is in that position. they do need to follow 2nd steps. they need to listen to the experts and they need to keep the national interest at heart. so the best option that we see going forward towards economic recovery in order to have stability is to call for general elections as soon as practically possible is not going to stretch things out even further. i mean, what happens in the meantime? well, for lanka, which is bankrupt, whites for its bailout, from the international monetary fund, which is going to take months. well, the international monetary fund has, i just saw, they've announced today that they plan to complete the negotiations as soon as possible. and also elections has also created about the

fact that we can't afford elections, but once again, they can also be assistance that we can obtain to ward dish. and while we wait for elections to be held, all preparations are being made. mr. v grimacing happens to be president, which means he should continue with the business of governing in the national interest. and because what happens though, with the mean time with the protests, i'm sure a lot of those demonstrators aren't going to give up. yes and yesterday and again today many of them have said that they will not give up because they do not find to him legit you meant to and that they will continue so that we have to see how doc progresses. particularly the students who have been at the full find of the protests have said that they will not give up until he resigns in that sense to have a president particularly during such a time of turmoil when the public is suffering. a president who does not seem to

also have empathy and who does not have public trust is cause for great concerns. so what we hope, as i said before, is that we can go over general elections. i can also have a parliament that is different and not in the clutches of the roger boxes that will enable us to move towards economic recovery and stability. they will be closely watching these. i'm sure you will be to form a commissioner of the human rights commission of sri lanka because south dakota not on thank you, is another problem we haven't talked about yet, and that is that sri lanka also needs tourism. it's a huge money spit up. it wants to pump billions of dollars in the economy in 2018, around 5 percent of gross domestic product, but in 2019 a terror attack devastated the sector in the pandemic shut down everything. and who wants to visit the country suffering from what's now become a humanitarian crisis? the people can't even afford to feed themselves. some blame sri lanka is close ties

with china for its economic collapse. beijing extended $12000000000.00 in loans to the government between $22020.00 infrastructure projects like the one behind me. the multi $1000000000.00 port in humble toto hometown of recently fled, president go to buy a. roger baxa was a flagship project in china's belton road initiative when it opened in 2010. 7 years later, the port was seated to chinese control. after sri lanka realised a could no longer pay off the loans. a case study in debt trap, diplomacy, beijing, a sri lanka, single biggest creditor, accounting for 10 percent of the country's foreign debt. the pandemic soaring energy costs and global food shortages brought about by the ukraine war. have left states like pakistan, philippines, and laos struggling to pay their belgian road obligations. china says it will help sri lanka, but it's vague on the details to value,

which i know is ready to work with countries and financial institutions to keep playing a positive role in helping sri lanka overcome its difficulties and ease its debt burden. particularly with china's own economy under pressure state banks are more eager than ever to collect on belton road debt. this a coon and reported from china for years and has closely watched the roll out of this new silk road project. no one's forced sri lanka to sign up to him. anything. but why? if the international monetary fund off his rights between one and 3 percent, would you sign up to a lending rate of 3 to 6 percent? well, one of the great things about the belton road project for a lot of countries is the fact that these loans come with pretty much no strings attached at china doesn't do the same levels of due diligence that the i m f does. so for example, when the i m f lens money, you have to show that it's sustainable that you will be able to pay back. usually have to reform yourself as well. that's right. you have to do these sort of things

. you have to be transparent and how you do the dealings. china doesn't really care about that. and that's why i mean, even in this particular deals that the, i'm been told a porch is, is in roger boxer. they're in their hometown and shows that you know, this clearly, specialists in their own interests are being represented here and the i, m f might have had a problem with that for example. so you can sort of see that there's a lot of these different elements at work, but then it's a win win. isn't it full for china or lose lose for sri lanka by, by the sounds of it. what's china going to do about this though? because it could all back fire if, if, if they don't get their money back. that's right. but as we saw the report on is being quite vague about what they say. they're going to be supportive and, but there aren't really any precedents for them in this. i mean, this is the most severe test that the belgian road initiative has faced sin in the, in the 9 years since it was started. and so to remains, it will have to see if they're going to be and if they're going to really push people. if they're going to start seizing assets, which is what happens in,

in sri lanka before with the port. and that will be very serious at would also be a big boost for china's regional and strategy of becoming more prominent and of, of increasing its muscle in the region. talking about the region. what about india? one of china's rivals i, sri lanka, closest neighbor and a big investor as well. yeah, i mean there's a big power play going on between india and china. right now we've seen this in many, in many different areas. add their professing closeness at the moment because they're part of the bricks, grouping with brazil and russia, that they're all sort of and that they're showing this sort of new closeness. but at the back of it, there's still a lot of regional issues between the 2 indians. just overtaken china is the most populous nation in the world, or is about to this year. and so there's a lot of competitive competition between the 2 and india is not really involved in the, in the belgian road initiative. and it's, it's basically wants to push its own interests. so i think that and we're going to see they've, they've given a lot of money to sri lanka,

a lot of support. i think we're going to see more of that. and am china is really gonna have to step up if it wants to, to win with this sag. you know, this cap to capture sri lanka is hearts and minds is going to have to step up its activities that are good at thank you very much. and thank you for joining us on d. w. 's asia. i ben fizzle. and i'll see you at the same time. same place tomorrow are on the wi fi. with is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like will return to normal. and we visit those who are finding it difficult.

he sees his successes at noon in a weekly coven 19 special. every thursday on d w. how about taking a few race? you could even take a chance on the la rearing to ah, don't expect a happy ending literature list. 100 german histories. ah, ah, ah. the moment european investors have been waiting for the european central bank has finally jumped and hiked interest rates. and by more than some were expecting will it be enough to tackle the euro zones, record inflation, and flows return to north stream. one european importers breathe

a sigh of relief, but with reduced volumes of russian gas surging down the pipeline. it is by no means business as usual. this is data we business on robots in berlin. welcome to the program. the european central bank makes its move. the c. b is increasing interest rates for the 1st time in over a decade by not to point 5 percentage points. that's a big arise than the not point to 5 percentage points. at one point anticipated the much awaited move aims to tame record rates of inflation across the yours and caused by the war in ukraine. and the fallout from the pandemic. pcb is actually the last major central bank to raise rates this year at the beginning of 2022. borrowing rates were largely at the same level in the e, u and the u. s. but since then, the u. s. federal reserve has increased them 3 times in an effort to fight record inflation. that 1st came in march, just after russia invaded ukraine than the federal reserve.