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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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, May 27, 2017
SRI LANKA IN A BALANCING ACT OVER CHINA’S ONE BELT, ONE ROAD PROJECT
Indian PM Modi in jubilant mood with Sri Lankan leaders--Sri Lanka PM with Chinese President
While participating in last week’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) forum in
Beijing, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe walked a tight
rope: seeking economic and other benefits from China while maintaining
close relations with its rivals, the US and India.
The forum was held amid heightening tensions between China and the US,
together with Washington’s major South Asian ally, India. The US and
several European powers decided to send only second-tier delegations to
the forum while India boycotted it.
The gathering was attended by the heads of 29 states and 1,500 delegates
representing 130 nations, NGOs, the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. The OBOR project, initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping
in 2013, is a development strategy, focussed on a land-based “Silk Road
Economic Belt” and an oceanic “Maritime Silk Road” between China and
Europe.
China’s ambitious scheme is also part of a strategic response to counter
the aggressive encirclement pursued by the US and its allies, while
opening up further trade and investment opportunities for Chinese
capitalism.
Speaking at the second day session of the OBOR Leaders’ Roundtable,
Wickremesinghe said: “The Belt and Road Initiative will provide the
much-needed hard and soft connectivity in the Indian Ocean region
required for rapid economic and social development.” He insisted:
“History has shown that peace and ‘freedom of navigation’ in the Indian
Ocean always resulted in economic growth and prosperity.”
“Freedom of navigation” is the pretext used by Washington to instigate
provocations against China in the South and East China Seas and more
broadly in the Indian Ocean. Washington has been trying to block Chinese
influence across these highly strategic waters with the help of India,
which has become a frontline state against China by hosting facilities
for the US Seventh Fleet.
Under the government of Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala
Sirisena, Sri Lanka has sided with the strategic interests of the US and
India. Just two days before Wickremesinghe left for Beijing, Reuters
reported that Sri Lanka rejected China’s request to dock a submarine in
the Colombo port this month.
Wickremesinghe tried to appease Washington and New Delhi by declaring
categorically that the Colombo establishment is only interested in “the
economic benefits” to be achieved by joining Beijing’s project.
Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka could be an economic hub within the OBOR program, adding:
“Similarly, the success of this initiative and the hub will also depend
on the maintenance of long-term stability in the Indian Ocean by
promoting ‘peaceful and non-military’ cooperation.”
Both the US and Indian elites were anxious about the growing ties
between Sri Lanka and China under Sirisena’s predecessor Mahinda
Rajapakse and were intent on drawing the island into their strategic
orbit, particularly after the Obama administration’s declaration of a
“pivot to Asia” to combat China’s rise. As a result, Rajapakse was
ousted in a regime-change operation engineered by Washington and
supported by New Delhi. Via a presidential election, Sirisena and
Wickremesinghe were installed in January 2015.
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government took immediate steps to suspend a
number of major Chinese-funded projects inaugurated during Rajapakse’s
rule. Within months, however, their cash-strapped government was forced
to beg Beijing, not only to restart the projects, including the Colombo
port city, but to provide new investments to overcome acute balance of
payments and debt problems.
That is why Wickremesinghe, in his speech at the OBOR forum, said:
“Furthermore, Sri Lanka is strengthening financial connectivity by
establishing an offshore financial center in the Port City, which is a
Real Estate Development project commenced under the Belt and Road
Initiative.”
The predicament faced by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was
outlined in a Sunday Times editorial on May 21. It said: “With the
anticipated inflow of funds not forthcoming from the West, despite a new
government more amenable to it here in Sri Lanka, it is becoming
clearer that this country’s economic future rests on the broad shoulders
of India and China.”
With Washington’s full blessing, India’s right-wing government of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has assumed the role of chief policeman in the
South Asian region. New Delhi uses its political and economic influence
to dictate political terms to every neighbouring country. The Sri Lankan
government is caught up in this maelstrom.
In the same week that the OBOR forum met in Beijing, Modi paid his
second visit to Sri Lanka in two years. Wickremesinghe attended the
forum just after receiving Modi in Colombo.
New Delhi is following the manoeuvres of the Colombo government with
utmost vigilance because it sees the relationship re-developing between
Sri Lanka and China as a challenge to its own great power ambitions in
the region.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that Sri Lankan Minister of
Special Assignments Sarath Amunugama, who accompanied Wickremesinghe to
Beijing, made a naive attempt to pacify India.
Amunugama said: “Chinese President Xi Jinping has emphasised
connectivity. These countries were connected many centuries ago. Once
the regional problems are resolved, then India has to play a big role in
the initiative.” He added: “India, anyway, has to play a big role
because you cannot think of a belt and road without going over and close
to India.”
Justifying India’s boycott of the forum, Amunugama said: “Here
especially the Kashmir issue getting dragged into it, makes it difficult
for India to be flexible.”
The “Kashmir issue” is the disputed border that had led to many military
clashes over the past 70 years between India and Pakistan. The origins
of the conflict lie in the arbitrary division of the Indian
sub-continent into India and Pakistan, on the basis of Hindu and Muslim
religious communalism, in 1947. This was part of the so-called
independence deal worked out between the British imperialists and the
local Hindu and Muslim bourgeoisie.
India has raised objections to a $US50 billion project to be built as
part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to connect Chinese
Xinjiang to Gwadar port in Pakistan. The corridor passes through parts
of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, which India claims as Indian territory.
According to the PTI report, Amunugama also lamented his government’s
predicament. “We are caught up in a debt crisis,” he said. Sri Lanka is
facing a problem of debt repayment.”
Sri Lanka’s fraught stance at the OBOR forum highlights the tensions
gripping the South Asian region as a result of US imperialism’s
aggressive push against China. Since coming to power three years ago,
Modi’s government has been placing India at the forefront of US military
preparations to confront China.
However, all the governments in India’s neighbouring countries—Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka—are in dire economic
difficulties. China has allocated a credit line of $124 billion for OBOR
projects, thus ensuring each country would accept Beijing’s invitation
to participate.