“Countries participating in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could develop economic dependence on Chinese capital, which China could leverage to achieve its interests. For example, in July 2017, Sri Lanka and a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) signed a 99-year lease for Hambantota Port, following similar deals in Piraeus, Greece, and Darwin, Australia,” the annual report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2016, stated.