SNA (Tokyo) — Japan has reluctantly agreed to help Sri Lanka overcome its economic crisis–worse than any other the South Asian island nation has faced in its seventy-year history–in part because of Tokyo’s concerns about Chinese political influence.

According to Sri Lankan government figures, the country’s external debt as of the end of June stood at about US$46.6 billion, amounting to about 70% of its annual GDP.

With his country’s economy in a state of collapse, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been calling upon Japan to intervene on his nation’s behalf. In an August 18 interview with Reuters, he stated, “someone needs to call in, invite the main creditor nations. We will ask Japan to do it.”

The reason why Wickremesinghe turned to Japan specifically was explained by an adviser to the president to local media outlet EconomyNext: “He sees Japan as a longterm development partner for Sri Lanka.”

The source added in reference to the president’s thinking: “We are on our knees after the economic crisis and we may be compelled to give way to some demands from China and India; if they want to use our crisis for their own benefit. Japan could be a better choice to facilitate the debt restructuring talks.”

Using the opportunity of a meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Manila and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s state funeral in Tokyo, Wickremesinghe made a personal round of visits to Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He was received politely, but was provided no commitments.

Suzuki explained that “Japan will do its part if preconditions are met.” The finance minister went on to suggest that Tokyo wanted to see Sri Lanka first make a stronger effort to receive support from Beijing, New Delhi, and other major creditors. He also asked the Sri Lankan government for greater financial transparency and economic “reforms.”

For its part, the conservative Sankei Shinbun suggested that there should be a different set of conditions, declaring in an August 30 editorial that “Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should actively reach out to Sri Lanka on condition that the country eliminates China’s influence on its military and internal politics. The country is suffering from food and energy shortages, and there is not a moment to spare.”

At the beginning of this month, Wickremesinghe claimed to have finally brought Tokyo aboard, declaring to the Parliament of Sri Lanka on the morning of October 6 that Japan had agreed to co-chair a debt summit. However, within hours Reuters quoted an unnamed senior Japan government official who denied any such pact: “We have not reached such an agreement. It might be their wishful thinking, but the situation remains unchanged.”

This week, the Yomiuri Shinbun reported that the Kishida administration finally decided to accept Wickremesinghe’s appeal and will organize a meeting of Sri Lanka’s creditors by the end of this year.

If the Yomiuri is to be believed, it appears that fears among conservatives about potential Chinese influence over Colombo was the clinching argument within Japanese government counsels.

Sri Lanka, a nation of about 22 million people, has over twenty creditors, with China topping the list at about US$7.3 billion, followed by Japan at about US$2.7 billion, and India at about US$1.7 billion.

The country has been sinking ever deeper into economic crisis for over a decade, which has primarily been blamed on the Rajapaksa family’s financial mismanagement during its long period of political ascendancy, which began in 2005 and appears to have ended this July after massive public protests.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its international debt in April, announcing that it was suspending payments until a sustainable package could be negotiated.

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