China offers Lanka help to find Silk Route wrecks

Chinese authorities are seeking permission to explore Sri Lanka's coastline for possible Chinese ship wrecks from the ancient Silk Route era, an official said yesterday.

Sri Lanka was a key trading post along the ancient Silk Route which saw silk, spices and handicraft travel by road and sea between Asia and Europe.

The unsolicited offer by Science Foundation of China to deploy experts to look for vessels along Sri Lanka's coast was under consideration, Archaeology Director General Senarath Disanayake told AFP.

The seas around Galle are known to have at least 75 ancient ship wrecks, of which 25 have been well documented.

He said, however, that the Chinese had asked to keep half of all antiquities brought up from the ocean bed - a condition Sri Lanka could not agree to.

"They also want us to pay for a vessel to carry out the exploration and that is something we can't afford," Disanayake said. AFP