Sri Lanka is on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It's an initiative that China proposed right after the Silk Road Economic Belt almost five years ago to complete the Belt and Road Initiative. A new port in the country's south is now run by a Chinese state firm in a joint venture with the Sri Lankan government. US media are accusing China of setting up a debt trap through its Belt and Road initiative. Tao Yuan finds out more about the controversy.

Port of Colombo, Sri Lanka's largest. For the past couple of years, it's been run by a Chinese state company. CEO Huang Peng looks after 1,500 local Sri Lankan workers.

HUANG PENG, CEO COLOMBO INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINALS "A container terminal is actually an engine for moving a local economy, because container terminals are a very critical point of the whole supply chain of the country or even a region."

Sri Lanka needs these ports. For an island nation in the Indian Ocean, ports are the lifeblood of economic activity. So when Sri Lanka wanted a new port, it looked to China's Belt and Road plan for funding.

Hambantota, a small fishing town in the country's south, now home to a port which cost 1.5 billion US dollars. But Sri Lanka couldn't get it to turn a profit. For years, it sat empty and neglected. Colombo's debt ballooned. So in a 'debt for equity' swap, Sri Lanka handed over a majority stake in Hambantota to a Chinese firm, The same one that runs the Port of Colombo. Some media reports call this China's "debt trap", which got Sri Lanka to "cough up" a port.

DR. PARAKRAMA DISSANAYAKE, CHAIRMAN SRI LANKA PORTS AUTHORITY "At this point, the question of a debt trap does not apply."

Dr. Parakrama says China is now tasked with making Hambantota function financially.

DR. PARAKRAMA DISSANAYAKE, CHAIRMAN SRI LANKA PORTS AUTHORITY "You have one of the world's most experienced companies running the port."

The Port of Colombo, which Huang now runs is the world's 23rd largest port. With decades of experience in the shipping industry, he sees Hambantota's potential.

HUANG PENG, CEO COLOMBO INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINALS "Port of Colombo mainly is a container terminal, but Hambantota port is mainly focused on general cargo, RoRo, bunkering , oil business, and also other value-added business."

TAO YUAN COLOMBO "So they won't be stealing business from one another?"

HUANG PENG, CEO COLOMBO INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINALS "Yes there won't be too much competition between Colombo and the port of Hambantota."

Tao Yuan, CGTN, Colombo.