Lanka at the centre of US-China feud over strategic alliances
Sri Lanka was this week at the centre of the intensifying US-China cold war with each expecting Colombo to bend in its favour and hinting as much.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to arrive on an official visit on Tuesday and stay overnight before he proceeds to the Maldives. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, which is undergoing a sudden facelift before the visit, briefly said yesterday that discussions will cover “several areas of the multifaceted engagement between the two countries”.
But last Thursday, US officials were not so reticent. With regard to China, the US is “looking to frame a discussion” with Sri Lanka “about a more positive trajectory”, said Dean R. Thompson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the State Department, at a briefing in Washington.
The visit also comes following a major high-level meeting between the US and India in New Delhi where a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership is to take place. The US has said that this meeting is “reserved for our closest friends and partners” underscoring the importance of the emerging new alliance directly aimed at stopping China’s growing influence in the region. A statement in Washington states that the Pompeo visit to Sri Lanka is also aimed at ensuring a “free and open IndoPacific”, a reference to Chinese naval exercises in the region’s seas.
Sri Lanka has made no comment so far on the visit opting not to give the wrong message to the US-India alliance, or to China. It is, however, significant, that the US Defence Secretary Mark Esper who will be in India tomorrow for talks will not join his colleague in
Sri Lanka despite military agreements being on the table for negotiations with Colombo. The MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) USD 480 million grant to Sri Lanka is certain to be discussed. Secretary Pompeo is the chairman of the MCC.
“Our partnership with Sri Lanka goes back a long way, through a lot of different eras, and right now, we think they’re at a point to make some choices about where they head,” Mr. Thomson pointedly said in Washington this week.
“In the interest of strengthening our longstanding partnership with Sri Lankan and reinforcing our long-term- commitment to the region, we encourage Sri Lanka to review the options we offer for a transparent and sustainable economic development in contrast to discriminatory and opaque practices,” he stressed.
“We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long-term prosperity, and we stand ready to partner with Sri Lanka for its economic development and growth,” he said.
China shot back at a news conference in Beijing the very next day with a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying the US official's remarks were “filled with Cold War mentality and hegemonistic mindset, which fully expose the consistent US practice of arbitrarily interfering in other countries' domestic and foreign policies and forcing small and medium- sized countries to choose sides”.
China will work with Sri Lanka to unswervingly expand and deepen bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, spokesman Zhao Lijian said, plainly.
“China believes that all countries, regardless of size, have the right to independently develop foreign relations based on their own interests,” he said. “Attempts to prevent countries from carrying out normal exchanges and cooperation through pressure and coercion will not succeed and will end up being rejected by history and becoming a laughing stock of the international community.”
Mr Thompson, by contrast, said the US was watching developments in Sri Lanka closely--particularly in relation to the passing of the 20th Amendment which granted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa considerable powers--and “of course, be raising issues related to human rights, reconciliation, and our common commitment to democracy”.
The US will continue to urge Sri Lanka to “advance democratic governance, human rights, reconciliation, religious freedom, and justice, which promote the country’s longterm stability and prosperity and ensure the dignity and equality of all Sri Lanka’s diverse communities”.
Secretary Pompeo will be the highest-level US dignitary to visit Sri Lanka during the tenure of US President Donald Trump. A large advance team of US officials has already landed to coordinate. There were strict health protocols in place.
Even journalists who wished to cover the visit were instructed to take PCR tests 72 hours before the event.
On Friday, a special US Air Force flight landed at Bandaranaike International Airport with US security forces and a vehicle to provide protection to Mr Pompeo. He is also expected to stop at St Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade to lay a wreath in memory of those who perished in the Easter bombings last year.
Meanwhile, paintings and repairs are in full swing at the Republic Building which houses the Foreign Ministry. Work hurriedly began on the grand staircase leading to the Foreign Minister’s office. The staircase had collapsed several months ago. While renovation was still in progress yesterday, it is expected to be completed by the time the VIP arrives.
Secretary Pompeo is scheduled to have official talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene.