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As the Obama administration escalates its diplomatic and strategic
moves in Asia to undercut Chinese influence, the Sri Lankan government
is shifting course—distancing itself somewhat from Beijing and
attempting to draw closer to Washington.
This manoeuvring was
evident at the Shangri-la security dialogue in Singapore earlier this
month. Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Foreign
Minister G. L. Peiris met with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman,
General Martin Dempsey, on the sidelines of the talks on June 5. In
response to a Sri Lankan request, Dempsey agreed to provide military
assistance, in particular to the Sri Lankan navy.
Few details
have been published. But the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry web site noted
that the US and India had “responded positively” to Rajapakse’s request
for “enhanced training opportunities for capacity building of defence
personnel.” Gotabhaya Rajapakse is President Mahinda Rajapakse’s
brother.
The report also noted: “As a coastal nation, the
meetings recognised the pivotal role that the Sri Lanka Navy could play
in strengthening the security of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean and
resolved to co-operate closely in drawing on their synergies in
combating international terrorism.”
The reference to “combatting
international terrorism” simply obscures the real aim of this
developing naval collaboration. At the Singapore meeting, US Defence
Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the US would be building up its
naval presence in the Asia Pacific region to 60 percent of its total
forces by 2020.
The US focus on naval power is aimed at
controlling key sea routes used by China to ship energy and raw
materials from the Middle East and Africa. In the event of a conflict
with China, the US navy would be able to mount an economic blockade by
halting vital Chinese imports.
Sri Lanka is strategically
positioned at the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent near key
routes across the Indian Ocean from the Middle East and Africa. It could
play a vital logistical role in any US-China conflict, as it did during
World War II for British imperialism. After the fall of Singapore and
Burma to Japanese troops, the headquarters of the Allied Southeast Asia
Command was relocated to Kandy in the central hills area of Sri Lanka.
President
Mahinda Rajapakse relied heavily on China for economic, political and
military support in his government’s communal war against the separatist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In return, he allowed China to
build a major port at Hambantota on the southern tip of the island.
In
December 2009, a report by the US Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, entitled “Sri Lanka: Re-charting US Strategy after the War,”
declared that the US could not afford to “lose” Sri Lanka. It called for
intensified efforts to bring Colombo into Washington’s orbit.
The
Sri Lankan military waged a brutal war, costing the lives of tens of
thousands of civilians, before the LTTE was defeated in May 2009. The
Obama administration, which backed Colombo’s war, has nevertheless used
the threat of war crimes investigations in order to pressure Rajapakse
to align more closely with Washington.
In March this year, a
US-sponsored resolution was passed at the UN Human Rights Council,
calling on the Sri Lankan government to ensure “justice, equity,
accountability and reconciliation.” The resolution was never intended to
defend the democratic rights of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
Rather, it was a warning that the US could intensify the diplomatic
pressure on Sri Lanka.
The Rajapakse government decided to mend
its bridges with the US. It dispatched External Affairs Minister Peiris
to the US on May 19, nominally to present a report on what the
government was doing for post-war reconciliation.
According to
media reports, US military chief Dempsey and Indian Defence Minister A.
K. Antony expressed their appreciation in Singapore for Peiris’s report
on the government’s “rehabilitation and reconstruction” work in the
north and east of Sri Lanka. The US and India turned a blind eye to the
fact that these predominantly Tamil areas remain under military
occupation. Democratic rights are seriously curtailed and about 17,000
people are still languishing in refugee camps unable to return to their
homes.
The Rajapakse government’s adaptation to the Obama
administration’s aggressive intervention into Asia is revealing. Like
its counterparts throughout the region, the Sri Lankan ruling class
confronts a fundamental dilemma. It continues to rely heavily on China
as an export market and source of aid and investment. At the same time,
it cannot afford to alienate the world’s strongest military power, which
also plays a significant role in determining financial assistance from
international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank.
Colombo’s room to manoeuvre between Washington and Beijing
is vanishing. Rajapakse and his government still continue to cautiously
denounce “the international conspiracy” of war crimes accusations
against Sri Lanka—as a means of diverting the anger of the masses over
deteriorating living standards. Increasingly, however, the tilt is
toward the US. (WSWS)
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