Chaos-hit Sri Lanka made 'dumb bets' on China, says CIA chief

Bill Burns, chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), on Wednesday blamed the 'dumb bets' made by Sri Lanka on China for the ongoing economic crisis.

CIA chief Bill Burns on Wednesday blamed "dumb bets" on high-debt Chinese investment as a factor in Sri Lanka's economic collapse, saying it should serve as a warning to other nations.

"The Chinese have a lot of weight to throw around and they can make a very appealing case for their investments," Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum.

But nations should look at "a place like Sri Lanka today -- heavily indebted to China -- which has made some really dumb bets about their economic future and is suffering pretty catastrophic, both economic and political, consequences as a result.

"That, I think, ought to be an object lesson to a lot of other players -- not just in the Middle East or South Asia, but around the world -- about having your eyes wide open about those kinds of dealings."

China has invested heavily in Sri Lanka -- strategically located in the Indian Ocean and off India, often seen as a rival of Beijing -- and worked closely with former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned last week in the face of mass protests over dire economic conditions, with the island nearly exhausting its supply of food and fuel.

Sri Lanka has borrowed heavily from China for infrastructure projects, some of which ended up as white elephants.