Columns
Following a foreign policy of the ‘middle path’- the challenges ahead
View(s):President Maithripala Sirisena in his Independence Day address to the nation on Wednesday said “We make a clear commitment towards following a foreign policy of the middle path, in friendship with all nations.” The challenges involved in treading such a delicate path are already becoming evident.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Biswal calls on President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat.
There have been several high level contacts between Colombo and foreign governments in the first few weeks since the new government took over. There was an invitation to President Sirisena to visit Delhi, which will be his first overseas destination as Head of State. A reciprocal visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected next month — the first by an Indian PM in decades. Then there was a three-day visit by US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, warmly welcomed by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who is due to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Thursday.
Anti-China election rhetoric
More or less parallel to these developments was a high profile visit by US President Barack Obama to Delhi where he said the US ‘welcomed a greater role for India in the Asia Pacific.’ The firming up of US-India ties comes against the backdrop of China’s increasing maritime assertiveness, and is widely seen as part of US strategy to contain China, in which India is seen as a key partner.
The fallout of the anti-China rhetoric emanating from the Sirisena camp during Sri Lanka’s election campaign would need to be seen in this context. Controversy over Delhi’s alleged role in toppling the Rajapaksa regime too may have increased Chinese apprehensions, since Indian displeasure was said to be linked to the docking of a Chinese submarine in Colombo.
But if there was a perception that Colombo’s closer ties with Delhi and Washington were being pursued at the expense of Sri Lanka’s ‘all-weather-friend’ China, recent events seem to suggest that there is an effort on the part of the government to reverse that trend. The government has indicated that it would proceed with Chinese funded infrastructure projects, subject to review. This includes the controversial $1.4 billion Port City project which Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had earlier threatened to scrap.
Political changes of Sri Lanka
A Chinese Special Envoy on Thursday met Minister Samaraweera, who reiterated Sri Lanka’s ‘time tested bonds of friendship and cooperation with China.’ Regarding this visit, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters in Beijing: “It is believed that the new Sri Lankan government can keep in mind the overall development of China-Sri Lanka friendly relations as well as the fundamental interests of its national development, and ensure that the major cooperation projects between the two countries will not be disrupted by political changes of Sri Lanka.” President Sirisena is expected to make a state visit to China in March.
Former ambassador Kalyananda Godage was of the view that President Sirisena’s Independence Day remark on foreign policy indicated ‘a reaction to the policy of the last government which was perceived as being ‘Anti West.” “There has indeed been an imbalance in our foreign policy and President Sirisena is seeking to correct the imbalance for, we do need the West – not only because most of our exports are to the West but it is the US and the EU that virtually control the international institutions including the UN” he said.
Indian suspicions
Dismissing the suspicions of ‘some Indian constituencies’ over Chinese assistance in developing Sri Lanka’s infrastructure he said “this has happened only because the Indian government even when invited did not come in, an example being the Hambantota Port project.” In the post-Deng period Chinese corporations were interested in Business. “They are in Asia and Africa in a big way because of this and not for strategic reasons.” The Chinese developed their navy for their own security, and would ‘never do anything to cause problems trying to help us’ he maintained.
Recalling the China-Sri Lanka Rubber-Rice Pact of 1952 Godage drew attention to China’s lasting gratitude to Sri Lanka for having given them rubber, a strategic commodity during the Korean War. We must also remember that India and China have a ‘huge’ trade relationship, and China supports India in its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, he said.
It is of interest that Pakistan, also a player in the region and friend of Sri Lanka, has reacted adversely to India’s proposed membership in a reformed UN Security Council, endorsed by Obama during his Delhi visit. Pakistan warned such a move will “create only new centers of powers and privileges,” and that the recent US-India defence pact can undermine regional stability.
Keeping the triangle steady
John Gooneratne, also a former ambassador and a seasoned diplomat, observed that Sri Lanka has been following a friendly policy with US, India and China, but there have been differences in the closeness among the three. Especially during the second term of the previous government relations with the US and the West were not as close as to the other two, India and China. He too was of the view that there has been a ‘clear indication’ that the Sirisena government wants to ‘repair the damage done to relations with the US and the West.’
Asked how Sri Lanka should handle its relations with friendly states which are rivals with each other, like India and Pakistan, or India and China, Dr Gooneratne said India and Pakistan have since independence had an ‘oppositional relationship,’ having gone to war with each other three times. Likewise India and China have an oppositional relationship, having gone to war with each other once. “So on the basis of my enemy’s enemy is my friend, Pakistan has a very close relationship with China.”
“The same “delicate situation” comes into play in Sri Lanka’s relations with all three – India, Pakistan and China” he said. “But, given Sri Lanka’s size and military capacity, keeping the triangle steady is not in the military area (though that can happen in the recent case of the recent visit of a Chinese submarine coming to the Colombo port.), but more in the political area. How does Sri Lanka do it? Just through experience since independence” he says. “It will take a book to elaborate on it.”