Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy Crisis
Sri Lanka’s foreign policy is in a crisis and a financial crisis is looming ahead.
The origin of both crises can be traced to the failure of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime to come to grips on how the demands made by the Tamil minority could be resolved.
However the Rajapaksa regime appears to be living in cuckooland making claims of stupendous ‘foreign policy victories’ which are plain and simple foreign policy disasters while patting themselves vigorously on their backs for the wonderful job they are doing. At last week’s press conference in which the three main dramatis personae were the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, our High Commissioner in London Chris Nonis and the ‘Monitor’ to the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin Vas Gunwardena such preposterous claims were made on the debacle of the President’s visit to London.
The Rajapaksa regime having successfully eliminated the terrorist threat of the LTTE, has mired itself in its prevarication to resolve the demands made by the Tamils.
There have been demands and threats made by powerful Western nations on Sri Lanka for a variety of reasons – geopolitical and other factors – to cow down the Rajapaksa regime into submission. The Rajapaksa regime has resisted the moves on the grounds that it is an internal problem which the West is attempting to interfere with disregarding Lanka’s sovereignty. The West has changed the rules of the ball game on national sovereignty and Sri Lanka having signed covenants of the United Nations on human rights is bound by such international commitments.
While arguments on national sovereignty and interference by the West are continuing and will continue till the cows come home, the basic challenge before the Rajapakse regime is to decide on the demands made by Tamil parties for their constituents who are citizens of Sri Lanka.
This is the crux of the Sri Lankan foreign policy crisis. Quite apart from demands to investigate alleged war crimes et al the entire hostile atmosphere could be defused if a serious attempt is made to come to grips on how the demands of the Tamil minority could be met.
But for three years after the ‘historic’ victory no such attempt is made and only prevarication of the issues are evident. For whatever reasons which our Sinhala nationalists may reject, it is this issue that is causing not only the foreign policy crisis but might even precipitate a financial crisis.
The expatriate Tamils living in Western capitals, whether they have wormed themselves into the confidence of Western leaders or not, are reading from the same page on Sri Lanka as Western leaders. This is undoubtedly ominous for the future of this country.
The signs of a financial crisis are evident. Two of Sri Lanka’s most prolific markets, the United States and the European Union, are not only facing a financial crisis but the governments of these countries are hostile towards the Rajapaksa regime whose ministers and the controlled and supposedly independent media are hurling abuse at them. The only silver lining in this respect is the decision of the United States last week to exempt Sri Lanka from their sanctions on purchase of oil from Iran.
Apparently External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris has been successful in negotiations on wide ranging issues on Sri Lanka with the tough talking Iron Lady of America, Hillary Clinton and other leading officials. It is believed that Minister Peiris has impressed the American officials on the response to some of the demands made at the last sessions of the UNHRC such as on the implementation of the LLRC recommendations. This gain should be built on by giving serious attention to demands being made by Western nations and not adopting a hostile attitude towards them. Anti Western postures go down well with nationalist sections of the electorate but whether it is beneficial to Sri Lanka in its vital field of foreign relations is indeed doubtful. Sri Lankan diplomacy in the post conflict period with the LTTE has been one of hostility towards the West. Very recently a cabinet minister made the preposterous claim that the United States wanted to take over Sri Lanka!
The disasters suffered by this country at the hands of Tamil expatriates could be attributed to this hostile diplomacy. Save for the issue of hosting the Commonwealth Games, the other three debacles – the cancellation of the President’s address to the Oxford Union, the adoption of the American Resolution at the UNHCR sessions calling for investigation of violation of human rights in Sri Lanka and cancellation of the president’s keynote address to the Commonwealth Business Council – were instigated by raucous gangs of Tamil expatriates living in the West. This is a kick on the posteriors of whoever is responsible for conduct of foreign affairs of this country.
The Rajapaksa regime’s success in foreign affairs has been with China and Russia. Japan, although a Western ally, has been attempting to accommodate Sri Lanka. China has helped Sri Lanka tremendously in the fields of defence and economic development. But could Sri Lanka do without its main trading partners: the United States and the European Union?
Most important is Indo-Lanka relations. It does appear that relations between New Delhi and Colombo are cooling off and thus is probably due to the failure of the Rajapaksa regime to get the 13th Amendment moving despite the pledges made to New Delhi. As important as relations with New Delhi are, so are the relations with Chennai.
There is seething anti Sri Lankan feeling in Tamil Nadu, so much so that the presence of Sri Lankan ministers in Tamil Nadu are being violently objected to by extremist parties. The two main leaders M. Karunanidhi and Jeyalalitha Jeyaram are in competition with each other to show themselves as better Sri Lankan baiters. With future Indian governments likely to be coalitions with state parties playing key roles, Tamil Nadu could have an overbearing influence on Lanka. It does appear that Tamil Nadu is not in focus with our foreign policy framers.
Sri Lanka’s foreign policy appears to be in tatters and the main reason is the failure of the Rajapaksa regime to recognise that a Tamil problem does exist.
Sri Lankan foreign policy is, as you have indicated, in deep crisis. In order to have a strong and beneficial policy, the government should have an inclusive approach. There are three foreign ministers instead of one in Sri Lanka.
There is also a crisis at the UN permanent position.
It is not Sri Lanka’s foreign policy is working fine with China and Russia, but they are extending their policy to accommodate Sri Lanka, as it is working against West which China and Russia in fact wanted to do but not want to do directly.
In simple term, Sri Lanka is isolated in the international stage. Sri Lankans need to think faster and make a decision.
” Anti Western postures go down well with nationalist sections of the electorate but whether it is beneficial to Sri Lanka in its vital field of foreign relations is indeed doubtful.”
To even us who are uninitiated in foreign relations and policy, it is patently clear that in an increasingly inter-connected world, it is self-defeatist to openly side with some foreign countries, and to bad-mouth others. As this editorial points out, this is further compounded when our major trading or considerable amounts of trade has been with those very countries, that some of the present government’s members criticise.
When it was clearly pointed out how the Tamil protests in England, made the British officials to change/cancel planned activities of the SL President’s visit at HRH, Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee celebrations, and they were described as a debacle in terms of foreign relations, the knee-jerk reaction of the close aides of the President was to call the Leader a misleader!
If from all that has passed in the last 4 or 5 decades since our independence, we are not prepared to see that humanity demands a different response that would evidently address some of the concerns of the Tamils of Lanka, not much else can be said, other than that we deserve any castigation that another may direct at us.
As moderates see, there were 3 independent kingdoms, that were inter-dependent in material ways, that co-existed in this island before colonial conquests c.1500. No matter how we interpret what passed between then, and 1948, the very constitution that our collective effort together with WhiteHall and its key representatives like the late Sir Ivor Jennings, produced, had the sanguine section 29 that recognised the historical co-existence of different peoples in this island, and guaranteed fundamental protection to all, to co-exist peacefully, as a modern democracy or one nation.
If we have proved unable to do so because of majoritarian mentality that has harmed those historical niceties with which we collaborated right until 1948, then we have only ourselves to blame for the whole debacle, which simply means failure or disaster, stemming from what is basically, an intolerant inter-communal relationship.
No matter how some of us choose to applaud ourselves on the republican exercise of 1972 and after, the fact cannot be denied that we have failed in maintaining the trust between ourselves and governing the affairs of this country as a democracy. The fact is that economic realities, would have sent all those Lankans, Sinhalese, Burghers, Muslims and Tamils, who are living and working overseas today, anyway, but that would have been minus the rancour with which the majority of Tamils had to leave; the rancour stemming from intolerance and perceived inequities in treatment of fellow-citizens!
Until and unless we admit this to ourselves, and determine with all that is within our power, and conscience, to do something differently, we will continue to attract the opprobrium of parts of our own and others!
Talking of economic oportunities, and expanding the economic potential in every region, just imagine how many possibilities one could envision if the colossal expenditure that has gone into the prosecution of a military solution to a fundamentally political and socio-economic issue, was available for soci-economic development!
A simple question that all moderates ask is: ‘How many more foreign interventions do we need in the form of Geneva resolutions, and diplomatic blunders and embarrassments, to do what only the Lankan government can do?’ To say how much it is doing is one thing, but to do sufficiently, to assuage the fears and demands of many constituent parts of our polity, is another.
To restore a fully functional civil order, where the extra-judicial machinery that saw the murder of people like the late Lasantha Wickramatunga, the still missing Prageeth Ekneligoda, and the demise and disappearance of scores of other media persons, and innumerable civilians and others, is dismantled, and some semblance of assurance be restored in our whole political and judicial administration, will take something more of sincere appraisal, admission and commitment, than knee-jerk and myopic responses of officials! It’s all down to politcal will to think outside the box, the very box it has chosen to box itself in!
My change bless us all:)
Fair analysis but not the coclusion. 13th Amendmedment now. More later! It will be like Quibec thereafter, special relations with Tamil Nadu and &C.TNA Already looking for training administrators in Canada!
“Sri Lanka’s foreign policy is in a crisis and a financial crisis is looming ahead.
The origin of both crises can be traced to the failure of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime to come to grips on how the demands made by the Tamil minority could be resolved.”
Thank you for the forecast. Leave Sri Lanka’s foreign policy analysis to those who know something (and can write), and you get back in to the NGO circuit. There is more money in it!
I see sanctions instigated. Sri Lankans will die of starvation.
Not only the present most extremist Singala government , the previous ones all through out since the British left the shores have practised the same anti-tamil policies in various forms , in a nut shell to say that traditional inhabitant tamils in Jaffna,Vanni,Trinco, and Batticaloa should not lead a normal life practising their culture and economic advancement . They ,the Singala regimes wanted to eradicate tamils as a community in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), now with Rajapaksha regime they have found the opportunity to practice what they wanted. Foreign governments are in competition to bring Sri Lanka into their fold , they are not interested about tamil community in Sri Lanka. Indian government itself part and parcel for the presentt situation practically involving in 2009 massacre with their ant-tamil polices and fondiling the Rajapaksha clan. Do not blame the expatriate tamils for your atrocites in 1958 ,1983 and 2009 (war crime) ,continued subjucation of tamils , military occupation of tamil land and Singala colonisation on tamils’ land. For all these atrocities you want the expatriate tamils , tamils in Tamil Nadu to keep quiet.
Not only Sri Lankan foreign is in crisis, the internal policies are in the height of murder, disappearances , racial sujucation and occupation.;also judiciary is not independent. Being a pariah state should not blame the expatriate tamils for all your crisis.
We have no foreign policy crisis as long as we follow Non Ailged principles.
That is the best option for our foreing policy are concer.
Since 1956 we had ben adopat Non Alinged principle,except 1977 to 2004.
Awakening Giants in Asian of India & China rise will be assessing situation, will help us to overcome so-called foreing policy crisis.We have to reexaminiation of the challenges that China and India pose for the rest of world either political economic or geo-political terms.We have to have more an attepmt to look inside these two countries and carry out a comparative assessment of thier ongoing achivements and thier massive problems,with focus on structural and institutional issues in domestic political-economy context.
We urgently reqired on wide reserach and new trends of receant foreing policy changes and change of world blance of power to new emerging power countries like India and China.
That will assist us to study foreing policy of Non alimng of our nation
.New world order is emerging every sphere of life,needless to say India and Cihna playing unpersedent role.We have take into account of ongoing changing foreing policy.
we should continue to kick tamils out of this nation.