Hambantota and the Delhi-Beijing-Colombo triangle
by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
It is not that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are not in need of repair, especially after five dismal years between Lakshman Kadirgamar and GL Pieris, but it is ironic in the extreme when the criticism comes from the UNP or its sympathisers.
The UNP and its fellow travellers seem to think that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are in need of repair because a group of provincials, rustics even, have taken over the reins of the state and are congenitally unable to understand the world or communicate with it. The corollary of this view is that the UNP, especially its current leadership, has the social sophistication to manage our foreign relations. This is no less than hilarious because the worst periods in Sri Lanka’s foreign relations were under UNP administrations and not those of the SLFP under any of its leaders.
If safeguarding the national interest is the basic objective of foreign policy, and national interest is definable as the defence of the fundamental attributes of the state such as national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, then these never stood more in jeopardy than during UNP administrations.
The worst disaster in Sri Lanka’s external relations was indubitably the Jayewardene years with the Indian airdrop followed by 70,000 foreign troops on Sri Lankan soil, while the rest of the world chose to look the other way. That was how isolated Sri Lanka had become, while affairs were handled by the Colombo based Westernised and pro-Western elite. By contrast, when the April 1971 insurrection broke out, the active support for Sri Lanka extended from the US and UK to China, Russia, Yugoslavia and Egypt, while Indian and Pakistani military personnel – their rivalries apart—helped Sri Lanka.
The three most outstanding failures of Sri Lanka’s external relations were Bandung 1954 (earning the Esmond Wickremesinghe–advised Sir John Kotelawela the delightfully apt local nickname of Bandung Booruwa), Indo-Lanka 1987 and the CFA period under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2002-4 (during which sovereignty and territorial integrity were made a mockery of).
The construction of the Hambantota Port is truly historic and progressive. History shows that in all countries, ports were the connecting point with the outside world and acted as an engine of economic and social progress. The Deep South of Sri Lanka which had been badly neglected for decades if not centuries will never be marginalised again, thanks to the Hambantota Port. For this the country must thank both President Mahinda Rajapakse and Sri Lanka’s most reliable and important international friend, China.
As for how it will affect Sri Lanka’s relations with the West and India, I do not see why it should affect those relations negatively. As is well known, Sri Lanka first offered our giant neighbour India the opportunity of helping to build the Port, and we turned to China only after India had declined or hesitated. The new Port is open to ships from all over the world, including India and the USA, and therefore it cannot be said to be aimed against the interest of anyone. It is not closed to anyone, so everyone can use it and benefit from it.
There are no foreign military bases or military presence attached to the Hambantota port. In any case China has no military bases or troops outside its territory. There are those who say that Hambantota Port is potentially ‘dual purpose’, by which is meant it can be used to service military ships and planes. The answer is that any country can do so, with Sri Lanka’s permission. We have visits from the US and Indian navies, and cooperation with their militaries, and there is no reason that this cannot extend to Hambantota Port as well.
Certain analysts say that China is adopting a ‘string of pearls’ strategy of building ports and other facilities in various parts of the world which it can use in case of need. It is said that a rapidly developing power like China needs raw materials and fuel and therefore must expand its Navy. Others talk of a Silk Route strategy on the part of China. So what? Every rising power did the same thing, and China has never engaged in aggressive, violent imperialist or colonialist aggression. Sri Lanka cannot be used to ‘contain’ China, nor can we be blamed for not participating in attempts to contain China. Sri Lanka must proceed on the basis of our own national interest, and that national interest is very well served by the Hambantota port and China’s generous loan and assistance in building it.
The bonds between Sri Lanka and China go all the way back to 1952 and the Rubber-Rice Pact. This was under a UNP administration. We established formal ties years later after 1956. When Prime Minister Chou En Lai visited Ceylon in the 1950s, he won the hearts of the Sri Lankan people. Ties have been strengthened during both UNP and SLFP governments. Under President Premadasa, the Free School Uniforms Programme was possible because China gifted all the fabric necessary for those uniforms—and a top delegate of the Communist Party of China was the chief guest at the UNP Convention during the Premadasa presidency. During the war against the Tigers, China supported us diplomatically and militarily. Without that support it would have been very difficult and perhaps impossible for Sri Lanka to have won, or resisted foreign intervention.
China, together with Russia, is our reliable shield in the UN Security Council. We have no other reliable friends in that all-important Council. China has never once interfered in our internal affairs. It also has no Tamil lobbies. Our old and reliable friend China has now emerged as a global economic power and in the coming decades will be a truly global power. This will balance off the hegemony of the West and eventually liberate us peacefully from that hegemony. For all these reasons China is an indispensable friend and it would be stupid for Sri Lanka not to strengthen its ties with China.
As for not harming relations with India and improving relations with the West, there are other ways that Sri Lanka can and must do this, which are mutually beneficial and do not restrict our chances for economic development and progress. For instance we should seriously re-consider our delay in signing CEPA. CEPA would strengthen our ties with India which is a rising economic power, and like China, an engine of Asia’s economic miracle.
We must carefully balance our relations with China and India, not taking sides with either in their possible competition, but remaining firm friends with both. As Prime Minister, Madam Sirimavo Bandaranike succeeded in doing this even in 1962 when India and China fought a war.
29 Comments
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Yes.... China is Srilanka's good friend and Srilanka needs China.
Do China need Srilanka? Why are they helping us so much? What are they getting in return?
:-)
Some notable points,
"The bonds between Sri Lanka and China go all the way back to 1952 + China has never engaged in aggressive, violent imperialist or colonialist aggression"
In 1406 Alakesvara (King of Kotte) was abducted by the Chinese for not cooperating to erect an inscription, this goes slightly further than 1952 in our non violent relationship.
"China’s generous loan and assistance in building the Hambantota port - ("How I became generous": Dhanduwam Mudalali et al, Sundaytimes Sep 2008)
Please stop beating the dead body and uttering empty rhetoric. China is no doubt a superpower but they are not our "Aunt's Children" to help us for a no particular reason.
Who ever beleive china going to be next super power must live in a dream world, if you beleive in filling your stomach and do not open your mouth for any thing else go on enjoy china. if you beleive freedom and democracy dont give up, you must fight for it. as a tamil born in tamil ealam and exiled in free democratic world, i will fight untill i return my free mother land occupied by sinhala terrorist. Mad Prabas stuburness prolong our exile life, we will not going to give up until we return our beloved land.
Dayan you can bull shit any thing, but you know your barbarians what they are doing in my land.
Re: Hector Kobbakaduwa's comment
Alakesvara is a Tamil name! It is interesting to note that in 1406 the King of Kotte was a Tamil. In any case Kotte is a Tamil word. What does it say to those people who call the Tamils illegal immigrants? Sinhalese is a recent language which has many borrowed words from Tamil and several other Indian languages!!!
Hambantota could succeed in the long term if all other parts of the economic equation fall into place. In the past ports have evolved over period of time due to the presence of human habitation and economic activity in the neighbourhood and vice versa. Both complement each other.
In the case of Hambantota it has been a port from days of yore. Also known as Sampantota it served as a link with the east and west. So what is lacking is the economic activity in the area which no doubt will pick up in the medium term if the Govt adopts good policies and gives investors the neccesary incentives.
China has always been a good friend of Sri Lanka from the 1960's and its ties go even beyond to the visit of Fa-Hien. So it Hambantota should not be a cause for concern to anyone.
@ j.Muthu
US debts to China is expected to surpass a whopping 1 trillion dollars this year.
EU debts to China is currently at 640 Billion Dollars.
China just recently surpassed Japan to become the worlds second biggest economy.
China expected to overtake USA as the worlds biggest economy by year 2040.
CHINA IS ALREADY THE WORLD'S SUPERPOWER.
P:S: If anyone wonders, The Hambantota harbour is one of the biggest weapons in China's arsenal to secure the international maritime route for Chinese economic prosperity. China needs Sri Lanka more than we need china.While US is too busy fighting a stupid war on terror, not planning their future ahead china is laying the foundation to take over the top spot .
From president Premadasa's era, Dr.Dayan is always genius political analyzer. Great Job sir..........
Yes Sam,
Sri lanka is a tamil country and Sinhala is probably a derivative of tamil, and you are being quite generous by only demanding the North and East since according to you, the whole island should be Eelam...
LMAO!!!!
I like the way Dr Dayan Jayatilaka writes. Dear Dr. tell me why Sri Lanka is always needing help? Come to Toronto, I will send you a return ticket paid from my reserve fund so that you can see for yourself what we Tamils have done for us and to Canada and are now doing to those innocent Tamils in vanni. We are ready to set up bank to help rebuild the lives of people that were destroyed by their own goverment.Some of the money has already been sent, no strings attached.
I offered this gesture to DBS and aslo to National Post a news paper started by Dr,Conrad Black.You know who Conrad Black was.Please be our guest and see the miracle in the Industrial and financial heartland of Canada.
If the Total income of 800,000 Diaspora exceed that of 20 million Sri Lankans on the same planet earth, why does it tell you?. Same and identical opportunity two different standard of living.We came here with our loin clothes, your people wanted to eliminate us but had Dutta Gamunu listened to his father this may not have happened.
Without Equal rights and peace with Tamils, Singhalese will never live in peace.
The Sinhalese only sold their liberty to the foreign partners ( China, Pakistan …) of war to deprive Tamils of their Liberty and their lands.
The Sinhalese will realise their foolishness and their mahavansa mindset ONLY WHEN the foreign partners of war remind the local partner of war (Mahinda and his chauvinist gang) that the Tamil lands are not enough and they need the Sinhalese lands as well, especially around the Hambantota .
By the time it may be too late and the only option will be NIRVANA.
Dayan can go on and on about managing relation ships with China/ India all you like. But it clearly seem its only going in on direction. That's Lanka bending backwards to China.
Its also to simple thing just analyse the situation in terms of Delhi- Bejing. You have to include Washington,Brussels and Moscow.
They all going to try and pull sri lanka to their side, and SL can't satisfy all of them. if you do not they will all try to put pressure on SL which means SL will go one way or other. What happen's when something is pulled from every direction ? it breaks up.
Mr Hector Kobbekaduwa,
Remember our Ravana abducted the beautiful Indian Princess but the Indians have no gripe now.
So why bother about Alageswar or Alageswaren ?
Unlike your wanky Western mates China has not and never will let down her friends. And that goes specially for Srilanka.
Hambantota Harbor and the International Airport which will make Hambantota the most important city next to Colombo is no mean feat.
Do you seriously believe Wester Nations make these sort of gifts to developing countries.
Of course commodities, well pass the use by date ,will come still,with strings attached. to the applause of you and your opposition buddies.
Rajapaksas are smarter than that and the majority acknowledge it.
It's interesting that the present government is re-constituting trade relationships that we had with China and Iran (Persia) spanning over a thousand years before the arrival of the Europeans.
btw. Alakesvara was not a Chole king - he was from the South Indian side of the Sinhala royal family. Anyway - the last king of Ceylon was South Indian - is that supposed to make us all Tamils?
Based on number of criteria, China is now the second biggest economy in the world. If present trend continues, China will surpass USA and will become the biggest economy in the world with in the next 20 years.
This is noted to highlight the growing stature of China in global affairs and the shift in global balance of power from West to East.
The world is not in a recession today because of the sustained growth in Asia (China, India, Japan, South Korea & other Asian tigers)
Sri Lanka must take into consideration these factors when setting it's foreign policy parameters.
It is important to maintain good relations with the West as the West is still the biggest market for Sri Lankan produce if not for anything else. Sri Lanka under the present government is capable of balancing these relationships better than the NGO led UNP.
It is interesting that the past examples given by Dayan re: Chinese-Sri Lankan relationship can only be categorized as "soft assistance", where no Chinese individuals were stationed in Sri Lankan soil, other than the co-coordinators (if any). But in the harbor project, there are Chinese workers employed. There have been discussions to call these workers "Prisoners", and I am not an expert to comment on this. Southern Sri Lanka is an area where Sri Lankans are unemployed. Why should we allow Chinese to work there, even if they are funding. I would call it Bad Negotiation.
Secondly, there is no defense related activities involved in any of the earlier projects, including those carried out during the times of Mrs. Bandaranaike. Dayan forgot to mention Mrs. B's times in this article... what a loyal servant he is.
It is true that he is working hard for his salary, at least now.
I pray for my motherland Sri Lanka to be saved from the evil clutches of China.I pray for you too, Dr. to be enlightened on the danger waiting to happen.
If dirty China and stupid India engaged in a warfare which is unavoidable some time in the future, Sri Lanka will be sandwiched between and crushed like a potato chips to powder. MR Government has paid too, too, too, way, way too much to beat the tigers. MR Government could have, should have settled it with LTTE in an amicable way reasonable to both sides. Or else he could have handled it in a smart way like RW. Sri Lankan Governments have always missed the SETTLEMENT Buses, but this time it has missed big time.
Just see what has happened to the players, The Great General SF is in the jail (though in the custody of armed forces, it is really jail), stripped off his perks and benefits from title to uniform and everything. MR & GR’s name in the international arena is bruised badly to an irreparable level, don’t know what will happen to them going forward. VP is really lucky (if he is dead though) that he died a heroic death, without languishing in the jail and humiliated like the great General SF who beat him at last.
Wake up Sri Lankans to save mother Sri Lanka. We have differences and problems like the siblings, but we can’t let down Sri Lanka, Wake up!
Who cares what dayan jayatilaka says.
Dayan,
You might find the articles in www.worldliveevents.com interesting. They are written by a former Srilankan.
Regards
Hector Kobbebaduwa says "In 1406 Alakesvara (King of Kotte) was abducted by the Chinese for not cooperating to erect an inscription, this goes slightly further than 1952 in our non violent relationship."
... and the United States firebombed Yokohama and Tokyo and tossed two atomic bombs down Japan's throat in 1946. What's your point ? Would you also say that the US-Japan relationship is violent ?
Muthu, You and diaspora better try to create a tamil state or country in Tanil Nadu. You or any other diaspora guys can dream about Ealam in Sl. But in reality it is non-exist and never.
So getting the Indians to fight our war for us at their EXPENSE is now considered a diplomatic blunder ?
This Dyan guy is even more foolish than Premadasa and all those cheap politicians. At least they had an excuse they had studied only up to grade 5, this guys claims to have PhD and all other people ignoramuses in print !
Dyan please go and get yourself a job. You have too much time on your hands and you are making a MEGA idiot out of yourself.
Rajapaksa is playing a dangerous game between two giants - China and India.
India will win this game and Sinha – Nazis will be put in their place where they belong in the garbage heap
Posted by: Subramaniam Masilamany | August 24, 2010 02:02 AM
Mr. Masilamany,
In Toronto and other parts of the world you lot work hard. In Sri Lanka since independence you lot only asked for special treatment and Eelam and created terror and dragged the whole country down! You spent your dollars, pounds and Euros to create hell for us in Sri Lanka for 30 years, and now you are playing your silly trumpet. Even the sinhalese who went to countries with more opportunities have done well, so the success of the tamil diaspora is not just limited to you guys. Same with Indians, Vietnamese etc... See this is the problem, you lot think you are so special!
I wonder if Rana (24/8) recalls when Tamils here asked for their just rights for the equality of their language in the 1950s the Basha Peramuna, the Pancha Balavegaya and all those creatures who brought Bandaranaike to power in 1956 (and one of whom shot him to death in cold-blood. By the way, the killer was a Christian when he was hanged) let out the same frenzied cry "If you want Tamil go to India" But it required sense through the intervention of another country - with affirmation from the entire world - to make the Sinhala majority accept what is right. Now everyone considers this a fair demand - that's half a century later. In fairness to SWRD he knew that was gross injustice and tried to openly rectify it. He was brutally silenced under the name of a religion that abhors violence, preaches compassion and prohibits killing of even ants.
ISS
Excellent Dayan.
I recall the famous translation of a former don, Prof. Mamalasekera, when invited to make one of Prime Minister Chou en Lai's speech.
Prof did not know the Chinese or nor did he get the content in advance, but to his surprise, Chou later said that it was an exact translation. Chou en Lai had more international experience than the rest of the Chinese cabinet and started life as a lecturer in drama at CHina's premier Milititary Academy.
One must recall that China has helped many nations suffering under the yoke of colonialism. They stepped in to build the Tanzania - Zambia rail line when thelatter found itself landlocked by the formation of the illegal regime of Rhodesia.
Of course there are many Tamil words in Sihala like Kotte. That is why I for one would like to call Vaddukkodai its unbastardised proper name 'Bata Kotte'.
We are ready to set up bank to help rebuild the lives of people that were destroyed by their own goverment.
Posted by: Subramaniam Masilamany | August 24, 2010 02:02 AM
Most of you tamils claim this was just a war against civilians, where a powerful state army went rampage amongst unarmed innocent civilians! NO NO NO! Stop the misinformation campaign. You diaspora tamils funded a terror group to set up a mono-ethnic (which the Vanni under the LTTE was - and go see the meaning of genocide) state with Sri Lanka through means of terror! The government (backed by the majority - yes, mostly sinhalese...) beat the hell out of the terrorist! So, get real and accept the truth! Same happened in the south in 1987-1990! A lot of innocent sinhalese were killed in that time period, so is there racism in the action of the government? I am not saying that it is correct what happened, but the government reaction has been the same towards terror, whatever the ethnic group behind the terror!
Mahinda V and his family was taken away by Chinese Admiral Chen-Ho in 1406. Then Sri Lanka was paying tribute to China for sixty years.
Changes in Chinese political scene created a KING Alageswara to Kotte by the Chinese Kings. Few years ago the desendants of Mahinda V (Now Chinese) visted Sri Lanka from China.
When Sinhalese upheld Mahavamasa for Historical facts, but they always forget about the author of the same Mahavamsa or the important facts of the same chronicle.
The author, Bhikku Mahanaama, was the maternal uncle of Sigiri Kasyappa whose mother was a Pallava princes. Her brother became Buddhist monk and wrote the Mahavamsa.
Everyone knows PALLAVA dynasty ruled Tamil Nadu and part of Andhra.
Most of the Kings of Sri Lanka were the relatives of Pallava Royals. Mahavamsa never tell any NORTH INDIAN royal connection. King MANA VAMMA( Mana Varma) story is a strong evidence!
I believe the Royals of Sinhalese and Tamils never had any Tamil/Sinhala origin!
Tamils dont add PALLAVAS in the MOOVENTHAR(three kings) clans.
But during the rule of Pallavas Tamils and Sinhalese got many milestones in Culture, Art and Education.
I hope Tamils and Sinhalese celebrate NEW YEAR on the same day for the reason of same Pallava rule!
Sri Lankan Kings never had any relationship or business with any other KINGS except Kings of Tamil Nadu. These are the facts of our Kings.
Now both Tamils and Sinhalese try to create some "fancy" stories to accomodate their "current" communal political philosophy from the OLD stories of Kings and Queens!
Godzilla,
"Rajapaksas are smarter than that and the majority acknowledge it".
If so why no one in the clan went to a university?
They took to politics, and in SL you know the calbre of presnt day politicians.
Their success was because rougue nations helped to kill innocents.
To Mr Masilamany and others who are still self-deluding;
I work with a group of volunteer medical professionals who regularly visit the war affected in remote parts of Killinochchi, Mullativu, Mannar and Paranthan areas. The vast majority of the tamil people who are now being resettled have nothing other than what is given by the SLG. Sometimes these folks fight each other over even empty plastic bottles and cans an d other items we distribute freely. The money and so called resources your people are supposedly sending must be going to your own bank accounts elsewhere, because for a fact, it is not reaching the miserable people, who are some of the poorest in SRI LANKA.
By the way, the volunteers who go work among these very unfortunate Tamil people are only Sinhala and Muslim doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Tamils never participate.