{"id":110204,"date":"2020-12-29T18:31:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T01:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110204"},"modified":"2020-12-29T18:31:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T01:31:25","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/29\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c9d\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Part 2 C9d"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

US Secretary\nof State Mike Pompeo visited Sri Lanka in October 2020. Pompeo received\nsecurity fit enough for a President, said the media. The visit was clearly intended\nto urge Sri Lanka to join an alliance against China. USA wished to rope Sri\nLanka into the US\u2019s regional plans, said analysts, but US could not achieve\nwhat it wanted and there was no joint statement from the two parties. This clearly\nindicated that they were unable to agree on issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya\nhad told Pompeo that he cannot compromise the independence, sovereignty and\nterritorial integrity of Sri Lanka for the sake of foreign relations. That was\na blow to USA\u2019s ambitions in Sri Lanka, said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 But both parties agreed on\nthe need to ensure that shipping lanes and the use of the sea should be left\nopen to all.  There should be freedom of\nmovement in the region. On the economic front, Sri Lanka said that assistance\nin terms of technology and investment was welcome. Priority will be given to\npromote US investments in the Island said Pompeo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both parties also agreed to strengthen the defense cooperation\nalready established between Sri Lanka and the United States. These include\ntraining opportunities and assistance from the United States to security forces\npersonnel in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo issued a statement regarding his visit. The United States\nseeks to strengthen our partnership with democratic, peaceful, prosperous, and\nfully sovereign Sri Lanka,  said Pompeo. A strong\nsovereign Sri Lanka is a powerful strategic partner for the US on the world\nstage. It can be a beacon for a free and open Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo flattered Sri Lanka .Sri Lankan factories and garment\nmanufacturers quickly filled hundreds and hundreds of orders for high-quality Personal\nProtective Equipment (PPE), [used in the Coved epidemic] and we are grateful\nfor this output which saved American lives, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Colombo,\nState Secretary Pompeo underscored the commitment of the United States to a\npartnership with a strong, sovereign Sri Lanka and to advance common goals for\na free and open Indo-Pacific region, reported the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo repeatedly attacked China during his one-day visit to Colombo,\nto request Sri Lanka to end its close relationship with China.  We see, from bad deals, violations of\nsovereignty and lawlessness on land and sea, the China Communist Party as a\npredator. The US comes in a different way. We come as a friend and as a\npartner,\u201d he claimed. Calling the Chinese Communist Party a predator\u201d is an unusual\ndiplomatic practice, embarrassing to the hosts during an official visit,\nobserved former diplomat, Sarala Fernando.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China said, we\nare firmly opposed to the United States taking the opportunity of the State\nSecretary\u2019s visit to sow and interfere in China-Sri Lanka relations, and to\ncoerce and bully Sri Lanka. US has no\npower or obligation to lecture on China-Sri Lanka relations.  That will neither be tolerated by the Chinese\nnor be accepted by the Sri Lankans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Embassy of China in Colombo, tweeted  Sorry Mr. Secretary @SecPompeo, we\u2019re busy\npromoting #China-#SriLanka friendship and cooperation, not interested in your\n#AlienVsPredator game invitation..\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA wants to wean Sri Lanka away from China..US has commented on Sri\nLanka-China relations, in an extremely negative way on many occasions. Rear\nAdmiral Donald D. Gabrielson, of the US Navy, declared, at the Galle Dialogues\n2017 that every country should be cautious when working with China for want of\ntransparency in certain engagements. Many an\neyebrow was raised when Rear Admiral Gabrielson spoke ill of China, in Colombo,\nsaid Shamindra Ferdinando. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2020 American Ambassador in Colombo, Alaina\nTeplitz, in an interview with local media criticized Chinese projects in Sri\nLanka. The U.S. believes that partnerships between countries should be open,\ntransparent, and mutually beneficial, and if this is what Sri Lanka\u2019s\nrelationship with China embodies, then we encourage it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nshould engage with China  in ways that\nprotect its sovereignty. There is too much of a China-centric dependency which\nlimits the Sri Lankan government to look at alternatives, Teplitz continued.  China replied  that these \nremarks by Teplitz, made  in\ninterview with a local newspaper severely violated the diplomatic protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Alice Wells, US Principal Deputy Assistant\nSecretary of State said in 2020  Our\npartnership with Sri Lanka goes back a long way, through a lot of different\neras, and right now, we think  Sri Lanka  should make some choices about where they\nhead.  We encourage Sri Lanka to review\nthe options we offer for a transparent and sustainable economic development in\ncontrast to discriminatory and opaque practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but\nnecessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long-term\nprosperity, and we stand ready to partner with Sri Lanka for its economic\ndevelopment and growth.  Chinese embassy\nsaid that asking a country to make difficult but necessary decisions\u201d on its\nforeign relations is also a blatant violation of diplomatic protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka should avoid the vulnerability associated with excess\nindebtedness to a single lender, USA advised, meaning China. Alice Wells,\nActing Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, ,\ndeclared in Washington,  in September\n2017 that the US was seriously concerned over what she called unsustainable\ndebt burden on Sri Lanka due to non-concessional loans from China.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nsaid there is no such heavy debt with China. China had helped from the time of\nthe LTTE war. Much of this was  grants\nand not loans. Even in the matter of loans they were low interest and\naffordable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China responded to these  US\ncriticisms. China\u2019s development can be seen all around the world in ports,\nroads, railway while American bombings can also be felt all around the world,\nreplied China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day,\nAmerican troops are deployed in  150 countries. Since 2001, the US has\nspent over $6 trillion on military operations and war, money that might have\nbeen invested in the infrastructure at home. Since the 1970s, China has not\nonce gone to war.  [instead] China, ,\nbuilt its nation pouring more cement every three years than America did in the\nentire twentieth century said China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It is hoped that the United States correct the\nugly practices of arbitrarily interfering in other countries\u2019 domestic and\nforeign affairs and forcing small and medium-sized countries to choose sides,\nsaid China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

US and\nBritish imperialists secretly create difficult situations in sovereign\ncountries in order to pave the way to interfere openly, warned China. One method is to create spurious narratives about regimes they want to\ntarget.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\nstrongly suggested the US quit the addiction of preaching to  others and applying double standards\u201d. China\nnamed four areas of misdeeds, . Slandering, pretending to be the guardian of\nfree trade while violating the WTO rulings, pretending to be transparent, smearing\nothers\u2019 normal cooperation against sovereignty, \nmilitarily misbehaving and imposing unilateral sanctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China said when\nit comes to human rights, the United States should do\nits \u2018homework\u2019 , rather than telling other countries what to do, or\neven spreading rumors to discredit other countries. Poor prison conditions,\nill treatment and even abuse of prisoners in the United States are\nfrequently reported by the media. ( continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sri Lanka in October 2020. Pompeo received security fit enough for a President, said the media. The visit was clearly intended to urge Sri Lanka to join an alliance against China. USA wished to rope Sri Lanka into the US\u2019s regional plans, said analysts, but US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110204","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=110204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}