While battling a fresh and much harder wave of COVID-19 on the ground, the Government also strove to find the right balance in its foreign policy this week as the international spotlight intensified on Sri Lanka with the visit of a high-level delegation from the United States (US).
Amidst growing power politics of global giants like the US, China and India in the Indian Ocean region, ‘the Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ has found itself in an intricate position as never before in recent memory.
Well aware of the geopolitical realities surrounding the country and fiscal and economic realities within the country, the Government was treading cautiously on its foreign policy to improve strategic partnerships with these three nations and the rest of the world.
The Government has repeatedly stressed its adherence to a Non-Aligned policy when it comes to relations with its neighbouring giant India, its key financial lender in recent times China, and its long-standing development partner the US, to avoid unnecessary troubles posed by thinly veiled power struggles of those global powers.
High-level visit
US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo (Mike Pompeo)’s official visit marked the highest-level US delegation to Sri Lanka since his predecessor John Kerry’s visit in May 2015. The US State Secretary is to call on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawardena today.
Secretary Pompeo’s visit happens with less than a week to the US Presidential Election (November 3), and Colombo was his second destination after New Delhi, India, where crucial talks were held to boost bilateral defence ties. He is to travel to Malé, the Maldives, and Jakarta, Indonesia in the next two days.
His visit to this island-nation, hot on the heels of a high-powered Chinese delegation led by Communist Party Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, naturally attracted a lot of attention locally as well as globally. A heated exchange that ensued between Washington and Beijing last week over Secretary Pompeo’s visit to four Asian countries and its undertones, also dragging Sri Lanka into the picture, heightened the excitement and the media and political interest over developments surrounding this visit.
Washington and Beijing
Statements from the side of Washington made it clear that the visit was aimed at building stronger ties with its “friends and partners in the Indo-Pacific” as a countermeasure to China’s growing presence in the region.
Speaking with reference to Sri Lanka at a special briefing last Thursday, South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Dean Thompson underlined, “In the interest of strengthening our longstanding partnership with Sri Lanka, we encourage Sri Lanka to review the options we offer for transparent and sustainable economic development in contrast to discriminatory and opaque practices.”
“We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long-term prosperity, and we stand ready to partner with Sri Lanka for its economic development and growth…Our partnership with Sri Lanka goes back a long way, through a lot of different eras, and right now, we think they are at a point to make some choices about where they head.”
At the same time, the US Official, in response to a question, reiterated that the US Government would closely watch developments in Sri Lanka related to democratic governance, human rights, reconciliation, religious freedom, and justice.
When the above comments were raised as a question at a press conference in Beijing the next day, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian minced no words in expressing their displeasure over what they thought was an attempt to discredit China’s role in the region. He noted that the US Official’s remarks exposed “the consistent US practice of forcing small countries to choose sides.”
“Over the years, China and Sri Lanka have conducted friendly cooperation on the basis of consultation on an equal footing and mutual benefit, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese and Sri Lankan people. China will work with Sri Lanka to unswervingly expand and deepen [a] bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.”
“China believes that all countries, regardless of size, have the right to independently develop foreign relations based on their own interests. Attempts to prevent countries from carrying out normal exchanges and cooperation through pressure and coercion will not succeed and will end up being rejected by history,” Lijian added.
On the sidelines of top foreign policy official Jiechi’s visit early this month, China extended a grant of Rs. 16.5 billion (RMB 600 million) to improve medical care, education and water supply in the rural areas of Sri Lanka.
US-India ties
As a new cold war brews between the US and China, India, having a contested border with China for a prolonged period, has clearly partnered with the US to up its military capacity to, as the Indian media reported, “narrow the gap with the powerful Chinese military.”
The Hindu on Monday reported that the two countries were expected to finalise the long-pending Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) during the bilateral talks. The BECA is to provide for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.
According to the Indian media, a second agreement titled ‘Maritime Information Sharing Technical Arrangement’ (MISTA) to enable increased maritime and naval intelligence sharing was also on the cards.
The Sri Lankan Government was closely following the above developments knowing that those could make a significant impact on the country’s internal and external affairs.
On the other hand, political observers believe that there is a high possibility that the proposed US$ 480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact could be featured during the high-level talks as Secretary Pompeo is also the Chair of the nine-member MCC Board of Directors. The negotiations around this grant have been stalled due to concerns and a public backlash over some of its Clauses and loose ends.
The outcomes and some of the salient points, which came up during the discussions, will be announced at a joint press conference today.
Facilitating the visit of a high-level dignitary amidst a global pandemic was no easy task for the Government. Both the US and Chinese dignitaries visited the country under the ‘travel bubble’ agreement, a concept now being increasingly used for travel between two countries for special purposes without strict quarantine. The Government, however, put in place a host of additional arrangements in keeping with the health guidelines when facilitating those visits.
After 20A
Meanwhile in the local political landscape, the main Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) was having a hard time coming to grips with its many internal problems laid bare following the vote of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (20A), during which eight Opposition MPs defiantly voted with the Government in support of the Bill.
These eight MPs included seven MPs from minority parties and SJB Assistant Secretary and National List MP Diana Gamage, from whom the SJB had hired the ‘Telephone’ symbol to contest the last General Election. They signalled the first few defections of the already weak Opposition, and it was reported that more MPs were willing to side with the Government during the upcoming Budget debate in Parliament.
Interestingly, former President Maithripala Sirisena, making an about-turn, dodged the 20A vote, while his colleagues in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) voted for the Bill. The former President was the only MP who was absent for the vote.
Four out of the five Sri Lanka Muslim Congress MPs, and one each from the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Tamil Progressive Alliance and the Muslim National Alliance voted with the Government for 20A though their Leaders Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and Mano Ganeshan chose to vote against. These sudden disloyalties came as a blow to the SJB, and its Members called on Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa to expel them from the Party.
The 20A Bill, which was done and dusted in Parliament last week with 156 votes for and 65 against, will come to into effect once the Speaker signs it off after incorporating the Amendments passed at the Third Reading of the Bill. Speculation is rife that Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National List MP Jayantha Ketagoda or another MP will resign to pave the way for former Minister Basil Rajapaksa to enter Parliament once this Constitutional Amendment is enforced.
