Ranil: Trump’s entry not end to US domination

2016-11-27

Outlining Sri Lanka’s foreign policy in the wake of new global situation, the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said the election of Donald Trump as the US’s new President would not be the end of the USA’s aim of dominating the world. 

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe made this point at the graduation ceremony of Bandaranaike Centre for International studies on Thursday.

 “The elected of new President in USA is to have a re-look at the foreign policy. It might challenge the belief of orthodox members of US foreign policy, how to deal with Russia, North American neighbors and how do you deal with free trade. 

“It was a revolt against the establishment. Trump would not have got there if not for his new vision. Even if he does not implement everything he promised, there would be a reassessment of US rule,” he said. 

“Certainly I don’t think it will be the end of the US’s aim of dominating the world,” he stated and added what we see was the end of post-cold war order. 

"Simply because for 70 years the policies followed by the West to give independence to the Asian nations, promoting their own models in these countries, General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO), the alliances USA had with Japan and East Asian and South East Asian nations, strategic understanding with China resulted in a boom in the Asian economies and they were able to withstand the 2008 global financial crisis,” he said.

 “I would say this is a significant moment to the whole world. There is a question as to what will happen to the Western world, which controlled the world for so many years. The United States of America led the Western powers to challenge the Soviet Union, with the long term objective of ensuring global peace and ensuring there is no rivalry to the Western Powers," he stated. 

They had the ‘Cold war, first and at the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Easton block, the post cold war period. A question is being asked after results of the Referendum in UK and the election of Donald Trump whether this is the end of the Western domination in the global order,” the Prime Minister said. 

"Certainly some fear the coming of the isolation of USA and inward UK. Currently the UK is looking to play a new role in the world to adopt themselves to the world having left the single market. “I don’t think anyone had studied the consequences of leaving the single market. 

Therefore it is a new game for the UK and the rest of Europe,” he added.

 He said there was also emergence of China to demarcate a role for itself, and becoming a rival for USA as the Soviet Union did. 

“With the strategic understanding with US it will re-design its role in Asia. The question that is to be asked is what will happen to Trans-Pacific Partnerships (TPP). With the deleted response from Obama administration of how to have Asian allies together and give them market access on those determined by USA it will be favorable to US businessmen. This was the core of Trump’s campaign whether right or wrong, which featured loss of jobs in Mexico and Asia,” he also said.

Premier Wickremesinghe also said that Sri Lanka would work towards bringing Asia together, while working with the West, China, India and Japan. (Yohan Perera)