{"id":111031,"date":"2021-01-26T17:58:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T00:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=111031"},"modified":"2021-01-26T17:59:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T00:59:03","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-pt2-c12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/26\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-pt2-c12\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Part 2 C12"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On account of its strategic location, Sri Lanka is a key battleground\nof geopolitical rivalry, said Asoka Bandarage.  Sri Lanka is now in the\ncrosshairs of dangerous power games among the big powers, said Lasanda\nKurukulasuriya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nmust pursue an independent foreign policy, said Palitha Kohona. It must protect\nthe territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence and economic advancement\nof Sri Lanka. We must maintain good relationships with USA, China and India,\nbut that should not mean we should sacrifice our independence, Kohona said. We\nneed an effective foreign policy, which ensures our security, safeguards our\nterritorial integrity and sovereignty, said Sudarshan Seneviratne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pohottu has\nannounced its foreign policy. As a sovereign, free, independent nation, Sri\nLanka\u2019s foreign policy will remain neutral and non-aligned, declared Pohottu. Sri Lanka\nwill maintain\nfriendly relations with all countries. Sri Lanka\u2018s relations with one country will\nbe absolutely independent of ties with another country. Also, Sri\nLanka will not give total control of a national strategic asset, port,\nairport or anything, to a foreign country, concluded Pohottu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya\nRajapaksa\u2019s declaration to conduct foreign policy without compromising the\ncountry\u2019s independence and sovereignty is praiseworthy. Though a small nation,\nin saying so, he has upheld Sri Lanka\u2019s dignity, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this will\nnot be easy. US is wooing Sri Lanka and asking Sri Lanka to join US in the next\nwar. The alarmed intelligentsia have now started to look for ways of getting\nout of the awful possibility of getting entangled in a US-China war started by\nUSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best solution for getting out of this dilemma would be to\nreturn to Non-Alignment, they said. National\nJoint Committee of Sinhala Organizations said,<\/em>\n\u2018<\/em>We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign policy of\nNon-alignment.\u2019 Sri\nLanka   should follow a non aligned\nposition, said Palitha Kohona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should recover our earlier position in the NAM,as a pioneer of the Non-Aligned\nMovement.  Some senior NAM diplomats\nstill have sympathetic feelings towards Sri Lanka, Kohona concluded. As a small\nstate without a large military, Sri Lanka should adhere to a strict non-aligned\nforeign policy in its relations with great powers, said Ganeshan Wignaraja. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may not\nbe possible, said critics. With the signing of ACSA, we are no longer\nnon-aligned, announced Tamara Kunanayagam. A military alliance already exists between\nthe US and Sri Lanka. The ACSA\nAgreement, signed by the Yahapalana government is still in force. Pohottu has not\nmade any changes to it, said Tissa Vitarana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By signing\nACSA in 2007, and renewing it in 2017, Sri Lanka has committed its strategic\nentry points, ports and airports, as well as our armed forces, our military\ninstallations, food, oil, and spare parts, to the US for its war against China,\nsaid Tamara Kunanayagam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACSA\nagreement also provides for the training of Sri Lankan troops by the USA and\ntheir use when necessary. Thus, without actually setting up a USA military base\nin Sri Lanka, those needs can be fulfilled through the ACSA agreement, said\nTissa Vitarana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACSA allows\nthe USA to make use of any airport or harbor in Sri Lanka. Thus, the USA can\ncontinue to make use of Katunayake for its big transport planes to bring its\nheavy armaments and take them across to Trincomalee to be loaded on to their\naircraft carriers for use in the whole Indo-Pacific region, continued Vitarana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After ACSA\nSri Lanka will be asked to help in implementing the Indo-Pacific policy of USA.\nSri Lanka will have to work with India, Australia, Japan and the USA. The link\nbetween India and Sri Lanka will be strengthened and the needs of the USA will\nbe achieved through this route, concluded Vitarana. It is now known that Indian\nPrime Minister Modi has asked Sri Lanka to join the Quad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The joint\nmilitary exercises of Sri Lanka with India and the USA are going on. There are regular\ndefence dialogues, Navy exercises and training in India for the Sri Lankan\nArmed Forces. India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka have agreed to establish a\nRegional Maritime Security Secretariat (RMSS) in Colombo, staffed by the Sri\nLankan Ministry of Defence personnel, to coordinate all aspects of maritime\nsecurity between the three countries.    If\nthis is encouraged, we will become a part of the Indo-Pacific Alliance which is\nmainly focused against China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nterminology use by Pohottu has come in for criticism. Pohottu also says its foreign\npolicy will be determined by India First\u201d. \nSince India has militarily aligned with the US, what does \u2018India first\u2019\nmean asked critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the\nrecent visit of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Pohottu is stated to\nhave reiterated its commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific\u201d. Now\nthat\u2019s one heavily coded expression for war against China, said Tamara.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, Sri\nLanka\u2019s commitment to America\u2019s Indo-Pacific\u201d strategy is a violation of the\nUnited Nations Charter and of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is\na commitment to war, not a commitment to peace, Tamara added.  In fact,\nthere is no such thing as an \u2018Indo-Pacific\u2019, Tamara concluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka wants\nto maintain its neutrality and does not wish to be caught up in the major power\ngames, said Jayanath Colombage.  Analysts    are doubtful. What does \u2018neutrality\u2019 in\nforeign policy actually mean, they asked.  Staying neutral can mean tacit approval, said\nTissa Vitarana.     \u2018Neutrality\u2019 and\n\u2018non alignment\u2019 do not go together either, said Tamara Kunanayagam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pohottu has\nfound another escape route. Sri Lanka wants to revert to UN Declaration on the\nIndian Ocean as a Zone of Peace. President Rajapaksa wants to see Indian Ocean\na Zone of peace.  As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Indo-Pacific\u201d is too\nbig for us, even the Indian Ocean is too big for us since we are a small\ncountry, said Jayanath Colombage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Sri Lankan government should ensure that\nthe UN Declaration on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peacebe implemented immediately. This is a declaration which Sri Lanka\nitself initiated, said Tissa Vitarana  on\nbehalf of LSSP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there\nare no Indian Ocean organizations based in Colombo, though Colombo is the\ncentre of the Indian Ocean. The Secretariats of Indian Ocean Rim association\n(IORA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) are located in Port Louis, the\ncapital of Mauritius. India\nestablished the Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean (IFC-IOR) making\nthe Sri Lanka Maritime Rescue Co-coordinating Centre (MRCC) insignificant, taking\naway any Indian Ocean role for Sri Lanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is now   wooed by three countries, US, India and\nChina.\n Colombo has witnessed\nheightened engagement from Beijing, New Delhi and Washington over the past few\nmonths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang Jiechi , Chinese\nformer Foreign Minister and current Politburo member visited in\nOctober 2020. Mike Pompeo , US Foreign Minister, visited in November. Then came\nAjith Doval,  India\u2019s National Security\nAdvisor. Indian\nForeign Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar visited \nin January 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other countries\narea also interested. Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to lead a\nhigh-level delegation to Sri Lanka In February 2021. There were also visits\nfrom the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Japan and Pakistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This  series of high-level visits to Sri Lanka, especially\nthose of    US, China and India, would\nindicate, even to a layman, the existence of real and competing interests of\nthese nations in Sri Lanka. It will require great determination to ensure that\nwe are not drawn into a position of conflict with China, said Tissa Vitarana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One solution, at least on paper, is to  turn to other countries,   avoiding  US. We believe in multiple alignments instead\nof a singular alignment with a particular country said Colombage. Sri\nLanka  should establish good relations\nwith countries other than the USA,  said\nthe intelligentsia. I think that the government should  now seek new allies said Chandraprema in his\ncolumn \u2018Political Watch \u2018 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other countries to turn to, we are not without  friends  said K Godage.  We have other friends, he\nsaid. We have close relations\nwith Iran and Russia in addition to China.  China, Iran and even Libya would give us aid\nwithout humiliating conditions.    Iran has been\nhelpful, not only with military supplies but also with interest free loans.\nIran also supplied us with our crude oil requirements, continued Godage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Eelam war some\ncountries not only rejected Sri Lanka\u2019s request for arms but also prevented\naircraft carrying urgently needed item from flying over their airspace. Western\nbloc countries, particularly UK US France, Germany threatened to reduce their\naid. But Sri Lanka did not yield to their demands. Instead Sri Lanka persuaded\nother countries to provide it with military assistance. Russia, Poland, China,\nIsrael, Pakistan, Japan, India and Czech Republic helped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia, Pakistan and China gave military assistance. Pakistan gave\narms. And sent its military officials to advise on counter insurgency tactics. Russia\nprovided military hardware, as well as much required training.  When US stopped selling Bushmaster guns to Sri\nLanka, we were able to get our guns from Russia. Poland agreed to allow its\nport to be used to ship the material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support of China and Russia means support at the UN. China and\nRussia have seats in the UN Security Council and they both have power   of veto. If the US reduced its contribution\nto the UN, then Russia and China would step in. China and Russia supported Sri\nLanka at UNHRC in Geneva.  If not for\nChina, Pakistan and Russia, Sri Lanka would have been isolated in Geneva during\nthe Rajapaksa administration, said Shamindra Ferdinando.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moscow now\nhad the upper hand in Syria, Ukraine and Libya. Gwynne Dyer said it is\ndifficult to describe Russia\u2019s current political style. It is certainly not a\ndemocracy, although there are regular elections. It\u2019s definitely not Communist,\nalthough most of the regime\u2019s senior figures were Communists before Russia\nstarted on its capitalist path. It\u2019s not a monarchy, although Putin behaves\nlike one. He has been in power for twenty years and is surrounded by a court of\nextremely rich allies and cronies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What is important for Sri Lanka is that Russia\nis a rising power and it is prepared to stand by Sri Lanka. In December 2020, Russian\nAmbassador declared Russia\u2019s firm support to Sri Lanka at the upcoming UNHRC\nsessions in Geneva in March 2021, and to defeat any motion filed at the forum\nby interested parties and Tamil Diaspora lobbies. Russia was now a member of\nthe United Nations Human Rights Council. The Ambassador urged Sri Lanka to participate\nin two International Security forums to be held in Russia in the summer of\n2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Ambassador\nsaid in December 2020 that the Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by the world\nfamous Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow to counter the COVID-19 pandemic\nis to be sent to Sri Lanka. A Memorandum of Understanding and Framework\nAgreement have been signed between the two countries for its distribution.\nThere is also a plan to partner this vaccine with the Oxford\nUniversity\/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to boost immunity further. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS On account of its strategic location, Sri Lanka is a key battleground of geopolitical rivalry, said Asoka Bandarage.  Sri Lanka is now in the crosshairs of dangerous power games among the big powers, said Lasanda Kurukulasuriya. Sri Lanka must pursue an independent foreign policy, said Palitha Kohona. It must protect the territorial integrity, […]<\/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-111031","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\/111031","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=111031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}