{"id":90404,"date":"2019-06-15T16:08:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-15T22:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90404"},"modified":"2019-06-15T08:55:09","modified_gmt":"2019-06-15T15:55:09","slug":"upcoming-sofa-sl-us-treaty-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/06\/15\/upcoming-sofa-sl-us-treaty-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming SOFA ,SL \/ US treaty negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chuls Rajapakse MNZM Wellington NZ<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In these, Sri Lanka needs to think carefully of what is best for Sri Lanka, it\u2019s sovereignty, economy, it\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US is still our biggest trading partner. Now  it is\ncourting a favour from us to enhance it\u2019s global  political ambitions ( as\nChina did when we went to them for economic and developmental assistance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time US is courting us as a country headed by it\u2019s\nmajority population .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not coming to teach us human rights like the awful\nDems did and favored the minority against the majority led by their\nmisconceptions formed succumbing to decades of minority misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge now is to get the best bang for the buck that\nUS seeks . Strike a hard bargain as President Mahinda did with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should not be anathema to any , least of all to a\nformer US citizens nor to the majority of the population that would run to live\nin the US given half a chance, provided SL\u2019s interests are not compromised .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bang\u201d SL would need for Uncle Sam\u2019s Buck\u201d should\ninclude :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Withdrawal of crooked Hilary \u2018 s UNHCR  resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSP provisions, improved to BSP +<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active marketing of SL or support to do so in US for\ntourism, investments from US companies especially in the Knowledge economy\nhighlighting the very high literacy in language and IT among SL\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting the transformation of SL into the financial and\nIT hub for South Asia with theColombo Port City project<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing security information with SL especially when it\u2019s\ninterests are compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reciprocal visa free travel to US like with many western\nnations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respecting and safeguarding SL sovereignit, it\u2019s religion\nand culture and not doing anything against these interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fascilitating the presentation of the nation\u2019s religion\nBuddhism that is likely to have strong appeal among majority of educated\nAmericans disillusioned with the vision provided by contemporary western\nreligions whose fundamentals are inconsistent with modern scientific findings. Not\nso for Buddhism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism is not science but it,s philosophy is consistent\nwith Science. Not so for most other religions, which is not to say that they do\nnot provide good guidance to a moral and peaceful life , which is still to be\nrecommended as a simple philosophy to a not so questioning mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boots on ground\u201d provisions be restricted and\n includes local approval and be reciprocal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SL for a long was a country that no one looked at. President\nJR tried his best to get US  interested in SL but the best he got was\nvisit to the Regan White House as a state guest .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the two greatest powers, US and China are falling over\neach other to court SL . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hambantota port which everybody denounced especially the\n Y Palanaya\u201d, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is now where both of these are vying to get a foot in. So\nalso for the new developments in the Colombo Port, all President Mahinda\u2019s\nwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon they will also realize the vlue of the much castigated\nMattala Airport\u201d .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trade war between US and China has exposed China\u2019s still\nreliance on US rather than the reverse . This will be so till China\u2019s\ntechnology becomes fully independent . That is some years ahead . Till then US\nwill have the edge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that scenario Trumps US offers much more potential for SL\nthan a Dems US<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge for SL leaders is for them to strike the best\nbargain on the above terms .The important thing is for SL leaders to keep SL\u2019 s\ninterests uppermost in their minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would have more confidence in the one who won the\nunwinnable war , kept SL \u2018s security impeccably intact there after and\ntransformed Colombo into the best travel destination in the world, (lonely\nplanet twice and CNN once ) with his insights into how US ticks having once been\nit\u2019s subject, to do so,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

over <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the other who miserably failed to maintain SL\u2019s\n security , ran down it \u2018s economy, growth rate, per capita income , ran\ndown Hambantota and port city and then capitulated into falling back again to\nthese very same under worse terms and is now singing their praises to the high\nheavens .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he did get the BSP + from EU and that is not to be\nscorned .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only plea and hope is that in his remaining tenure he at\nleast keeps SL\u2019s interest uppermost in his heart , along the lines mentioned\nduring the negotiations in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Chuls Rajapakse MNZM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellington NZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15.6.19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chuls Rajapakse MNZM Wellington NZ In these, Sri Lanka needs to think carefully of what is best for Sri Lanka, it\u2019s sovereignty, economy, it\u2019s culture. US is still our biggest trading partner. Now  it is courting a favour from us to enhance it\u2019s global  political ambitions ( as China did when we went to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90404","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=90404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}