Sri Lanka has recently handed over its southern strategic port Hambantota on a 99-year lease to which one of the following countries ?

In December 2017, Sri Lanka formally handed over the strategic southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease. The agreement was signed between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and the state-run China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH). This transfer was necessitated by Sri Lanka's struggle to repay the heavy debts incurred during the port's construction.

The deal is frequently cited as a primary example of "debt-trap diplomacy," where a creditor country extends excessive credit to a debtor country with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions. For India, this development is strategically significant as it strengthens China's presence in the Indian Ocean, often discussed within the framework of the "String of Pearls" theory. India, Pakistan, and the USA were not involved in this specific leasing agreement.