{"id":99246,"date":"2020-02-23T17:11:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T00:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=99246"},"modified":"2020-02-23T17:11:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T00:11:52","slug":"the-liberal-order-critical-technologies-and-small-states-a-case-of-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/23\/the-liberal-order-critical-technologies-and-small-states-a-case-of-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"The liberal order, critical technologies and small states: A case of Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Governments should\nadopt certain processes and values to certify the critical infrastructure\nprojects of the Chinese.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While globalisation was seen as a\npath to bring prosperity in the Western Hemisphere, UK who was championing the\nidea of the globalisation has officially exit from the European Union and\ndisappointed its closest ally US, on its decision on the Chinese 5G network\nprovider Huawei, which will undermine the US national security interest. The UK\nwill allow Huawei 5G equipment in their network, limiting access to sensitive\nareas. Nothing in this review affects this country\u2019s ability to share\nhighly-sensitive intelligence data over highly-secure networks both within the\nUK and our partners, including the Five Eyes,\u201d explained Foreign Secretary\nDominic Raab to the British Parliament. [i]<\/sup><\/a>[ii]<\/sup><\/a> The\nproblem of these technologies is whether the nations who acquire this equipment\nhave the capabilities to separate and identify the core from the edge of the\nmillimetre wave technology used in the 5G network. While the core is protected\nwith encrypted algorithms for sensitive information sharing, will the Chinese\nbreak into the core area where sensitive national security information is\ncommunicated? The US identifies that Huawei, a company established with a PLA\naffiliation which carries the largest patents for the 5G technologies than its\ncompetitors will have the advantage to carry out espionage for the Chinese\ngovernment and have full control of the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you imagine Reagan and\nThatcher having a conversation in the 1980s saying: Let\u2019s have the KGB build\nour telecommunications systems because they\u2019re giving us a great discount,\u201d\ncommented Matthew Pottinger National Security Advisor of USA a few weeks ago at\nthe Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. [iii]<\/sup><\/a> The\ndiscount offered by Huawei has won every stage of its mobile network expansion\nin developing nations like Sri Lanka. During the last decade, Huawei has become\nthe leading network equipment provider due to its attractive price which\nsometimes offers cushion fees to developing nations to grab the tender. Sri\nLanka is a clear victim in this regard. Recently interviewing a Huawei official\nby this author who was shocked to hear the confidence of the officer of wining\nthe 5G network tender due to the Huawei\u2019s footprint in the Island, saying Sri\nLanka has missed much opportunity, look at the Maldives who is now on 5G\nnetwork with us, we gave proposal to Sri Lanka before the Maldives.\u201d India is\nundecided on the idea of the Huawei 5G network similar to most East Asian\ncountries. It is essential to understand and asses the national security\nconcern on long term before acquiring such technology specifically a viewpoint\nfrom the signals intelligence officers of the nation is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last decade, Huawei has become the leading\nnetwork equipment provider due to its attractive price which sometimes offers\ncushion fees to developing nations to grab the tender. Sri Lanka is a clear\nvictim in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As these events unfold three\nscholars including a Harvard professor in the US was charged being\nforeign agents of China. [iv]<\/sup><\/a> Since\n2011, this academic has been part of the Wuhan University of Technology as a\nscientist receiving large sums of funds from China as part of the \u2018Thousand\nTalents Plan\u2019. It is a programme that has flagged national security concern by\nthe US for stealing and conducting espionage by the Chinese. The other\nresearchers accused of being part of the PLA working at the Boston University\nrobotics and a Cancer researcher who was found with 21 vials of biological\nsamples in his bag at the Boston Logan International Airport. Michael Pillsbury\nin his book The\nHundred-year Marathon<\/em> identify for decades the US government has\nfreely handed over sensitive information, technology, military know-how,\nintelligence, and expert advice to the Chinese, so much has been provided for\nso long that Congress complained in 2005 that there is no full accounting, and\nwhat we haven\u2019t given the Chinese they have stolen.\u201d At present day, the US\nwill take full account, and will want other nations to respect their decision\nin being cautious of the Chinese so-called unidentified espionage<\/em>. Decision UK has taken and what\nother nations will follow will have a drastic impact on the new world order.\nThe liberal order is threatened by these incidents and decisions made by\ngovernments in the developed and the developing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governments should adopt certain\nprocesses and values to certify the critical infrastructure projects of the\nChinese. The Blue Dot Network (BDN) \u2014 a certification programme [v]<\/sup><\/a> which\nsets international standards is the right response to the Chinese BRI projects\n\u2014 supports recipient nations, ensuring that the aid they get is an effective\nand sustainable response to their needs. Making it more transparent and will\nensure a better process when dealing with critical infrastructure. This was a\npoint made by Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on leasing out national\nassets during his election. The president clearly emphasised that Sri\nLanka doesn\u2019t wish to be engaged in the major power game taking place in the\nIndia Ocean.\u201d The great Leo Tolstoy writes that one wouldn\u2019t need to be\ninterested in war for war to be interested in them. In the same manner, the\nmajor powers are already in the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka is a part of the\nmajor power game despite its unwillingness to be part of it. Three top\nofficials \u2014 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; Wang\nYi, the Chinese Foreign Minister; Alice Wells, the US Assistant Secretary of\nState; and Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor \u2014 had been in Sri Lanka\nat the same time last month, not to speak of collective interest but to speak\nof their own national interest. As Henry Kissinger [vi]<\/sup><\/a> refers to\none leader, Klement von Metternich\u2019s intent to maintain stable international\nrelations required leaders to acknowledge the true interests of all actors,\nhowever, realpolitik of 19th century Western Europe saw nations focused on\ntheir own interest ignoring others. While US-UK and the like-minded liberal\nintelligence platform will go through significant changes, will Sri Lanka and\nUK strategically positioned Islands facing the two oceans maintain stability in\ntheir vicinity to preserve the liberal order or have they drifted towards\nChina. For Sri Lanka, although There is a need to decouple security\ncooperation from economic relations in small power-great power\nengagement,\u201d [vii]<\/sup><\/a> do we\nhave the capacity to decouple while unidentified tactics<\/em> has already coupled security\nand economic relations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Asanga Abeyagoonasekera was the\nformer Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka\n(INSSSL) and author of \u2018Sri Lanka at crossroads\u2019. This article was initially\npublished by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) New Delhi https:\/\/www.orfonline.org\/expert-speak\/liberal-order-critical-technologies-small-states-case-sri-lanka-61597\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[ii]<\/sup><\/a> Huawei set for limited role in UK\n5G networks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[iii]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.orfonline.org\/raisina-dialogue\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[iv]<\/sup><\/a> US charges three researchers with\nlying about links to China<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[v]<\/sup><\/a> Michelin Guide to\ninfrastructure in Asia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[vi]<\/sup><\/a> Kissinger H., World\nOrder \u2018Talented strategist\nKlement von Metternich was guided by the motto that to maintain stable\ninternational relations you needed to acknowledge the true interests of all\nactors and not just those of your own\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[vii]<\/sup><\/a> Wignaraja G., Grappling with Great\nPower Rivalries: Reflections on Sri Lanka\u2019s Engagement with the United States\nand China<\/a>, SWP Working Paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA Governments should adopt certain processes and values to certify the critical infrastructure projects of the Chinese. While globalisation was seen as a path to bring prosperity in the Western Hemisphere, UK who was championing the idea of the globalisation has officially exit from the European Union and disappointed its closest ally US, on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asanga-abeyagoonasekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99246","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=99246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}