Irked by the military-style uniforms of Chinese workmen at a reservoir in Hambantota, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary has asked the Chinese Embassy in Colombo to "educate" the private company about not wearing army uniforms.

According to the Sri Lankan media, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release that Defence Secretary General (retd) Kamal Gunaratne has asked the embassy to restrain its employees from wearing military-style camouflage uniforms in the future. Hambantota is the hometown of the ruling Rajapaksa family.

One of the concerns, raised by the local media, was that the Chinese were wearing uniforms similar to those worn by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The press release added: "The Ministry of Defence also informed the local private company to avoid the recurrence of such action henceforth".

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Reportedly, Gunaratne urged the mission to "educate the respective employer to refrain its employees from wearing the controversial military-style camouflage uniforms in future." He also instructed the local police to ensure that the Chinese employees do not wear camouflage uniforms.

The issue was raised by Sri Lanka's main opposition parties as well.

Keheliya Rambukwella, Sri Lanka's Minister of Mass Media and the government spokesman, said on Tuesday that the police's Criminal Investigations Department and military intelligence had investigated the claims and found that the allegations of the Chinese military uniforms were not true. He said that the clothes were similar to those worn by private security agencies in China and not the Chinese military, adding, "this is like an overall worn at mechanical garages, not a uniform".

In its typical style, the Chinese embassy tried to play down the controversy. 

Various Sri Lankan websites reported: "… the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka, has affirmed that the Chinese employees who were reportedly wearing controversial military style camouflage uniforms are not members of the People’s Liberation Army and it is the respective overseas company’s overall uniform entitled to the staffers".

To further minimise the controversy, the embassy tweeted: “Isn’t verification and fact-checking a must in the world of journalism? Clickbait or misinformation might only damage a media’s credibility”. The tweet included a photograph from online retailer Alibaba's website which showed that the controversial uniforms were available online for the public.

Over the past few years, Sri Lanka and China have developed a strong bond that goes beyond investment and economic partnership. The island nation is one of the key spokes in the communist giant's overarching Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiative. China has pumped in billions of dollars of loans to build infrastructure which includes the strategic Hambantota Port, located at the southern tip of the country.