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A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Tuesday, April 5, 2016
PM in Beijing, what next?
Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit Beijing this week; his first
to China since becoming the Prime Minister. Not only would his much
anticipated visit bring a clarity to Sri Lanka’s recently troubled ties
with China, it would also signal that, at a domestic level, Sri Lankan
politics is returning to reality. It may be tempting to read
geo-politics into the recent strains on the bilateral relationship, but
it was local politics that was the primary catalyst. China got caught in
the middle of a no-holds-barred election campaign between the
ex-president and the incumbent. Beijing’s cozy relations with the former
regime, which anyway had few good international friends, became a
convenient target. Since the main accusation against the Rajapaksa
regime was corruption, the main financier of most of Rajapaksa’s
landmark projects could not go unscathed. In the election platforms,
China became the fountainhead of all evil.
It was a major turnaround of things, no less dramatic than the fall of ex-president Rajapaksa himself from all mighty heroic king to a zero kleptocrat or at least it was projected to be so.
Not long ago, China was held with affection by many millions in the South for maintaining a ready supply of weapons to fight terrorism, at a time most other states refused to sell us weapons and defend the country at the UN. Suddenly to their bewilderment, the Chinese found themselves at the other end of the equation: The neo-imperialist that ripped the country off through its unsolicited projects and has propped up a corrupt regime.
The Chinese, who generally have troubles in discerning the flow of events in democracies, and are increasingly vocal of the superiority of their own system of efficient yet authoritarian delivery of policy were befuddled. Beijing which savours the principle of noninterference of internal affairs, had rarely, if ever, spoken out on domestic matters of a sovereign state. And they expect that to be reciprocal and the others keep away from China’s own issues of contention from Xinjian to Tibet to human rights.
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2016-04-05
Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit Beijing this week; his first
to China since becoming the Prime Minister. Not only would his much
anticipated visit bring a clarity to Sri Lanka’s recently troubled ties
with China, it would also signal that, at a domestic level, Sri Lankan
politics is returning to reality. It may be tempting to read
geo-politics into the recent strains on the bilateral relationship, but
it was local politics that was the primary catalyst. China got caught in
the middle of a no-holds-barred election campaign between the
ex-president and the incumbent. Beijing’s cozy relations with the former
regime, which anyway had few good international friends, became a
convenient target. Since the main accusation against the Rajapaksa
regime was corruption, the main financier of most of Rajapaksa’s
landmark projects could not go unscathed. In the election platforms,
China became the fountainhead of all evil.It was a major turnaround of things, no less dramatic than the fall of ex-president Rajapaksa himself from all mighty heroic king to a zero kleptocrat or at least it was projected to be so.
Not long ago, China was held with affection by many millions in the South for maintaining a ready supply of weapons to fight terrorism, at a time most other states refused to sell us weapons and defend the country at the UN. Suddenly to their bewilderment, the Chinese found themselves at the other end of the equation: The neo-imperialist that ripped the country off through its unsolicited projects and has propped up a corrupt regime.
"Good relations with China and expanding its economic role in the country are in Sri Lanka’s self interest. Only a misguided nation would disregard its self interest for some pie-in-the sky idealism"
The Chinese, who generally have troubles in discerning the flow of events in democracies, and are increasingly vocal of the superiority of their own system of efficient yet authoritarian delivery of policy were befuddled. Beijing which savours the principle of noninterference of internal affairs, had rarely, if ever, spoken out on domestic matters of a sovereign state. And they expect that to be reciprocal and the others keep away from China’s own issues of contention from Xinjian to Tibet to human rights.
