{"id":107925,"date":"2020-10-23T21:11:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T03:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107925"},"modified":"2020-10-24T14:18:20","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T21:18:20","slug":"mcc-agreement-and-mark-pompeos-visit-a-mouth-that-must-be-looked-at-in-this-gift-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/23\/mcc-agreement-and-mark-pompeos-visit-a-mouth-that-must-be-looked-at-in-this-gift-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"MCC Agreement and Mark Pompeo\u2019s visit; A mouth that must be looked at in this gift horse"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Nought from the Greeks\ntowards me hath sped well.
\nSo now I find that ancient proverb true,
\nFoes’ gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none –<\/em> Sophocles\n(496 – 406 BC),<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t look a gift horse\nin the mouth is a proverb about not questioning the value of a gift. The proverb<\/a> refers to the practice of evaluating\nthe age of a horse by looking at its teeth. A certain exception to this rule\nwould be the MCC agreement which reportedly is very high in the agenda of US\nSecretary of State Mark Pompeo\u2019s visit to Sri Lanka next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a\nwide ranging article published in the Lankaweb (MCC LIES: Sri Lanka is not\ngetting $480m signing MCC Posted on October 18th, 2020), Shenali Waduge has elaborated on this\nagreement and what it means to Sri Lanka in terms of the proposed gift. As she\nhas rightly said, 327 million Americans are giving Sri Lanka USD 1.50 each (USD\n480 M over 5 years) or US 30 cents per year. There is also a saying that\nbeggars should not be choosers. However, despite the impact of COVID, Sri\nLankans are not beggars, therefore they must choose what is in their best\ninterests. One million Sri Lankans working overseas remitted USD 7 Billion per\nyear until COVID hit Sri Lanka and the rest of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nShenali Waduge explains, the MCC funds will be released in tranches over 5\nyears if Sri Lanka meets numerous pre requisite conditions. It is these\nconditions and what it means to Sri Lanka were they to be met, that should\noccupy the minds of those who advocate the signing of this agreement. These are\nwhat is in the gift horse\u2019s mouth and which looks like stench emanating conditions.\nDespite the unpleasantness, Sri Lankans must look at these conditions\nremembering the old adage that there is nothing called a free lunch. It would\nbe foolish to imagine that Sri Lanka is being given this gift for the sake of\nlove and affinity. One should also consider the proverb not to trust Greeks\nbearing gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned in\nthe Phrase Finder (https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/beware-of-greeks-bearing-gifts.html<\/a>), this proverb has its genesis an allusion\nto the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way\ninto the city. It is recorded in Virgil’s Aeneid,\nBook 2<\/em>, 19 BC: “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is,\nI fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\nno suggestion is made that the USA is an enemy of Sri Lanka, the section of the\nphrase this proverb has its genesis an <\/strong>allusion\nto the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way\ninto the city<\/strong>\u201d has relevance, if one sits back and\nconsiders what is in this agreement for the US and whether it is indeed the\nhorse of Troy being used to gain entry into Sri Lanka for its own strategic\nreasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US has two key strategic\nreasons to be interested in an entry into Sri Lanka. Firstly, the emergence of\nChina as its competitor for world\u2019 super power status and its influence in Sri Lanka.\nChina already has a foothold with its investment in Hambantota, a Port, an\nairport with a run way longer than in Katunayake, and vast acreage of land\naround the Hambantota port given on a 99-year lease by the\nSirisena\/Wickremasinghe government. Although there is no Chinese Military\npresence in Sri Lanka, it would be foolhardy to imagine that will not be a\nreality should a need arise for China for it to bring its Military in if its\ninterests in the region are threatened. Secondly, the future of the US bases in\nDiego Garcia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article titled Is the United States about to lose control of its\nsecretive Diego Garcia military base? Jenni Marsh<\/a> of  CNN (March\n11, 2019) says Britain has now been\ninstructed to properly finish the process of decolonization, and return the\nChagos Islands, located half way between Africa and Indonesia, to Mauritius. The\nruling, though non-binding, potentially creates a huge problem for the United\nStates. Today, Diego Garcia is one of America’s most important — and secretive\n— overseas assets. Home to over 1,000 US troops and staff, it has been used by\nthe US Navy, the US Air Force and even NASA — the island’s enormous runway was\na designated emergency landing site\nfor the space shuttle. Diego Garcia has helped to launch two invasions of Iraq,\nserved as a vital landing spot for bombers that fly missions across Asia,\nincluding over the South China Sea, and has been linked to US rendition efforts\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\ninteresting to note the graphic of US bases throughout the world, and its base\nin Diego Garcia (Chagos Islands) and its key strategic position in the Indian\nocean, and its proximity to Sri Lanka. One should wonder whether the twin\nreasons for US interest in Sri Lanka are in fact the driving, motivating force\nfor it to gain that entry through the MCC Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE LOWY INSTITUTE<\/strong><\/a> (https:\/\/www.lowyinstitute.org\/the-interpreter\/decolonise-diego-garcia-why-america-should-not-fear-mauritius<\/a>) also\nmentions The United States military base on Diego Garcia has a problem: it is\nhoused inside an unlawful jurisdiction, the British Indian Ocean Territory\n(BIOT). According to the African Union<\/a>, UN General Assembly<\/a> and a\nrecent advisory opinion<\/a> of\nthe International Court of Justice, BIOT is a colonial holdover that violates\nthe territorial integrity of Mauritius. Britain refuses to dismantle BIOT out\nof deference to its ally, the US. This is a mistake. Full decolonisation<\/a> is in\nthe interest of all sides. America\u2019s support<\/a> for\nBritish sovereignty over Diego Garcia is based on the assumption<\/a> that\nLondon is a preferable landlord\u201d to Port Louis. If this was ever true in the\npast, it is not true today. British control over Diego Garcia and the rest of\nthe Chagos Archipelago is illegal, unpopular, unnecessary, and at odds with the\nidea of a rules-based\u201d order in the Indo-Pacific. By contrast, Mauritius holds\nthe keys to a long-term agreement over Diego Garcia that would be consistent\nwith international law and beneficial to America\u2019s broader strategic objectives\nin the region\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthe Lowy Institute argues that the future of the base need not be a problem for\nthe US should they negotiate with a willing Mauritius, there is an element of\nuncertainty over the future of this very vital base that serves US strategic\nobjectives. In this context, it should not be unreasonable to assume that there\ncould be a long term US interest in Sri Lanka on account of any developments in\nDiego Garcia that are detrimental to US interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This writer has argued in previous articles published in\nthe Daily FT that the MCC Agreement taken in conjunction with two other\nagreements with the USA, although not directly linked to the MCC Agreement,\nACSA (already signed) and SOFA (yet to be signed), and the Land Amendment Act (not\npassed by Parliament as yet as far as the writer knows) are not in the best\ninterests of Sri Lanka. See Millennium Challenge Grant: USA and the trust deficit (http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/opinion\/Millennium-Challenge-Grant-USA-and-the-trust-deficit\/14-685021<\/a>), SOFA not so good; who or what\nwill drive the MCC Sri Lanka Compact? (http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/columns\/SOFA-not-so-good–who-or-what–will-drive-the-MCC-Sri-Lanka-Compact\/4-681368<\/a>), Amended Land (Restrictions on\nAlienation) Act No. 38 of 2014: Challenge for Gotabaya and Sajith (http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/columns\/Amended-Land-Restrictions-on-Alienation-Act-No-38-of-2014-Challenge-for-Gotabaya-and-Sajith\/4-687602<\/a>), MCC a spider\u2019s web or an act of\nunconditional generosity? (http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/columns\/MCC-a-spider-s-web-or-an-act-of-unconditional-generosity\/4-692103<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\npossible that the US Secretary of State is very keen to secure an agreement on\nSOFA as well during his visit, besides the MCC Agreement. If he manages to do\nso, the triumvirate of agreements that could take Sri Lanka well into the\nstrategic hold of the US would be complete. MCC funded road developments\nreportedly establishing road works between a land corridor from the Western\nprovince and the Eastern province, Land banks, selling unlimited parcels of\nland to non Sri Lankans once land legislation is changed, which Sri Lankan politicians\nare quite capable of doing, entry of US military personnel into Sri Lanka\n(under SOFA), are all within the realm of certainty, not just possibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\ncan be argued that Sri Lanka\u2019s engagements with China have also been short\nsighted and this has placed the country in jeopardy from super power rivalry.\nSri Lanka\u2019s strategic relationship with India too could have been better as it\ncould have been used to act as the circuit breaker between the US and China\ntensions over Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka needs all three countries, India, the US and China to be her friends and\nit has to demonstrate to all three that they are not favouring one over\nanother. It needs to be non-aligned as far as these three countries are\nconcerned. The MCC Agreement, the SOFA agreement should not be signed as they\nare very clearly entry Visa\u2019s for the US military. However, in return, Sri\nLanka should assuage concerns that the US and India have about possible Chinese\nintentions in Sri Lanka. In this regard, a Constitutional provision that no\ncountry would be permitted to operate any Military bases in Sri Lanka, no\ncountry would be permitted to use Sri Lankan Ports, Airports and any land or\nsea territory for Military purposes of another country, could be considered.\nOnce such a Constitutional provision is enacted by Parliament, Sri Lanka could\nsign an agreement with China consistent with the constitutional provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\na longer term perspective, Sri Lanka should seriously consider a tri nation\nforeign policy compact between China, India and Sri Lanka, with India looking\nafter US interests, to manage strategic relationships between the three\ncountries and the US. The writer proposed such a compact in an article titled Sino,\nIndo, Lanka tri-nation centric foreign policy to end interference by other\nnations\u201d (<\/strong>http:\/\/www.ft.lk\/Opinion-and-Issues\/Sino-Indo-Lanka-tri-nation-centric-foreign-policy-to-end-interference-by-other-nations\/14-668484<\/a>)<\/strong>. It is\nworthwhile for Sri Lanka to consider such a compact as it could assuage\nconcerns between the super power rivals, US and China, and India about foreign\npolicy and economic policy decisions taken by Sri Lanka that could have an\nimpact on the strategic interests of these countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(courtesy\nDaily FT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale Nought from the Greeks towards me hath sped well. So now I find that ancient proverb true, Foes’ gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none – Sophocles (496 – 406 BC), Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth is a proverb about not questioning the value of a gift. The proverb refers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}