With the changing geopolitical landscape of the Indian Ocean region, an ongoing dialogue to improve relations between India and Sri Lanka has become critical.
The struggle over the control of geographical entities is on while the non-aligned movement that India and Sri Lanka perpetuated for years has taken a back seat.
India, no doubt, is emerging as a global power, and in such a scenario, small entities such as Sri Lanka should adopt governmental policies guided by the geopolitical concerns of India.
This is the stark reality that Sri Lanka is facing today as far as Indo-Lanka relations are concerned.
Hence, it is time-appropriate to have a long and continuous dialogue with India focusing on the maritime security of Sri Lanka, which hitherto was not a subject of concern for the Sri Lankans other than the issues relating to the north involving the LTTE.
Delegations from the Colombo Security Conclave’s founding members, Maldives, India, and Sri Lanka, as well as Mauritius, met on March 9-10 in Maldives for the 5th National Security Adviser level meeting. Delegations from Bangladesh and the Seychelles participated as observers.
At the meeting, Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser for India, General Kamal Gunaratne(Retd.), Secretary to the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka, and Kumaresan Ilango, National Security Adviser to the Republic of Mauritius, identified key areas of cooperation to enhance and strengthen regional security in the following five pillars: Terrorism and radicalization, maritime safety and security, combating trafficking and transnational organised crime, cyber security, protection of critical infrastructure and technology, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
India should play a leading role while standing at the threshold of the world league to be graduated as a strong world power.
However, it should not be a hindrance in any way to other countries’ cultivating trade relations with neighbouring countries in the region.
Meanwhile, addressing the first batch of graduates of Sri Lanka’s National Defense College here on Wednesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe made some noteworthy remarks on the emerging political scenario in the Indian Ocean region.
He said Sri Lanka has unfortunately become a “punching bag” because of Hambantota port, although that port is only one of the 17 Chinese ports in this region and is only a commercial port.
He, however, assured New Delhi that Sri Lanka will not compromise on India’s security interests and will always work together with it to ensure the security of the region.
Wickremesinghe also said the Indian Ocean region should be open to all to ensure freedom of navigation for commercial viability.
He emphatically said that Sri Lanka would not participate in military alliances and that he did not want the problems of the Pacific to come into the Indian Ocean.
Speaking about geopolitical concerns in the region, he urged the neighbouring countries to come together to look at how best to maintain stability in the region.
“We have to remember that the bulk of the petroleum supply and energy supply to the world goes through the Indian Ocean. A large amount of shipping goes through the Indian Ocean. We don’t want this to be an area of conflict and an area of war. “
He noted that Sri Lanka does not want to see big power rivalries in the Indian Ocean, as such rivalries could get reflected everywhere. He said that Sri Lanka is open to the navies of all countries and there is no discrimination.
“If the navy wants to come, we have no problem. They helped in the anti-piracy operations. But we don’t want a level of rivalry that will affect the security and peace of our area. Whatever the case may be, we will not join any major power or take sides, we will remain neutral, and that’s why we want to ensure that the big powers and the rivalry don’t need to lead to conflict in the Indian Ocean. That’s one thing we can’t afford. “
The President pointed out that if there is security significance, it is in the port of Darwin in Australia, where the Chinese ports are operating side by side in the area used by the Australian and US forces for training.
“We don’t have that. We don’t allow anyone to come and train here, but we do have our southern command of the navy. We have a divisional headquarters of the army, and we have a detachment of the air force. But none of them are involved. They only ensure that this is a commercial port and no less’, he said, adding that as it is a commercial port, it shows Sri Lanka’s strategic importance about which many people come to conclusions which are unwarranted.
The President also expressed hope that the next agreement Sri Lanka has with China will not cause such speculation and that it is only about debt reduction for Sri Lanka.
“When it comes to the security of Sri Lanka, we must also ensure that nothing adverse happens to the security of India. That is what we have been committed to, and we will go ahead with it. There will be no movement out of it. That’s why we work with India on the Colombo Conclave, on the trilateral security arrangements, and in many other fields, especially outside the military, field of piracy, human trafficking, and drugs. All those are useful ways in which we cooperate with India and the other island states. Then we also value our friendship with the Maldives, those small islands, and we know how important the Maldives is. “
Besides security issues, India also has a different agenda with Sri Lanka. India’s concern is that Sri Lanka has not fulfilled its obligations, though there have been a number of agreements signed since the coalition led by the UNP came into power in 2015.
There is a list compiled by the Indian side on the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Kerawalapitiya, and the connected Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU), a piped gas distribution system, retail outlets for compressed natural gas supply to the transportation sector, and conversion of liquid fuel-based power plants to R-LNG fired power plants.
The agreement was that the Sri Lanka government would issue a Letter of Intent to the government of India for the FSRU and the LNG package by mid May 2017. For the LNG plant and the FSRU, the plan was to form a joint venture among entities of Sri Lanka, India, and Japan, for which there was an agreement to work out modalities by the end of July 2017.
Then there was a proposal for the Indian Oil Company and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to jointly develop the upper tank farm in Trincomlaee, a port petroleum refinery and other industries in Trincomalee and to form a Joint Working Group (JWG). The Dambulla-Trincomalee expressway was also proposed, but to the dismay of India, nothing has moved forward. The Yahapalana government hit a snag with a constitutional issue after the then President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe unconstitutionally, and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.
There was yet another proposal for a coal-fired electricity generation plant in Sampur in the Trincomalee district, which was abandoned by President Sirisena owing to environmental concerns.
On the other hand, India expects the traditional friendly relations with Sri Lanka could be further enhanced through increased economic investments and development cooperation. However, they are perturbed that the Hambantota Port has been leased for a 99-year period to China after it was built by them.
Wickremesinghe was trying to allay India’s fears that the Hambantota Port would not be allowed to be used for military purposes and that Sri Lanka would not join any camp militarily since Sri Lanka didn’t want the Indian Ocean to be a place of conflict.
Hambantota is only for commercial purposes, and he was asking the world not to make it a punching bag at a time when Sri Lanka was inundated with economic woes.
The Vivekananda International Foundation, a think tank based in Delhi, examined recent events and Indo-Lankan relations. It is imperative that the readers peruse extracts of their analysis on Indo-Lanka relations.
India may have every reason to feel relieved with President Ranil Wickremesinghe (PRW) at the helm of affairs. India had been his “international safety net” when he negotiated the ceasefire with the LTTE in 2001. The quality of Sri Lanka’s (SL) diplomacy in India has undergone a sea-change since August 2021 thanks to the efforts of Milinda Morogoda, High Commissioner to India, and his equation with the political leadership and strategic community.
In the past fortnight, PRW (President Ranil Wickremesinghe) has made two important statements on Sri Lanka-India relations. On August 14, he was present at a ceremony in Colombo to witness the handing over of a Dornier Maritime Recce and Surveillance Aircraft to the Sri Lankan Navy. Even more importantly, he delivered an 8-minute speech giving his reflections on Indo-Lanka relations. It is very thought-provoking. The speech and his presence at the ceremony have important connotations. This was in the backdrop of the controversy over the permission given by SL to a Chinese survey vessel to visit Hambantota. The speech is on YouTube.
Even in his Throne Speech (Aug 03) to Parliament, PRW devoted several minutes to talking about India, and it was exceptional as no other country was mentioned directly or indirectly. In recent times, no Sri Lankan Head of State has used a parliamentary platform or a diplomatic event to make positive statements about India. It can be surmised that these are indications of relations moving to the next level and greater positivity as well. It also underlined that he feels secure in his job.
The Vivekananda Foundation has also gone into foreign policy and strategic affairs and Sri Lanka’s relations with India in detail. Some of the aspects are of interest in formulating Sri Lanka’s relations with India and how they could be strengthened in a changing political climate.
Foreign Policy and Strategic Affairs
The two Rajapaksa administrations (MR/2010-15) and (GR/2019-22) and the flip-flop during the Sirisena administration (2015-19) are infamous for the manner in which Sri Lanka’s strategic and foreign policy were conducted. This was the period when China considerably strengthened its hold on Sri Lanka at the cost of Sri Lanka’s traditional allies, including India.
In fact, PRW dwelt on this aspect in his Throne Speech (Aug 03), blaming the downturn in his country’s external relations “due to instability of foreign policy.” We faced many setbacks in the international arena,” and “we don’t belong to any group.” He promised to follow “a friendly” and “purposeful” foreign policy.
The failure of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has impacted its diaspora considerably. Sri Lanka’s passport is placed below nations like Sudan’s, and greater visa restrictions are placed on them. PRW therefore has a major task ahead to restore balance to foreign affairs and international relations. Even more, he has to devise ways and means to energise the foreign office and its foreign service.
Relations with India.
Though tested at frequent intervals, India-Lanka relations rest on strong foundations and have grown in stature thanks to high-level political interaction and leadership intervention at all times. The trust deficit that presided over bilateral relations, particularly since 2009, has receded, but it remains a source of worry for Indian foreign policy managers. The meeting between Indian and Sri Lankan leaders at an upcoming Tokyo event must provide the solution to address the deficit in trust.
India’s immediate response to the economic crisis by providing rescue, relief, and humanitarian assistance amounting to over USD 4 billion is internationally acclaimed and received kudos in Sri Lanka from civil society and others. This is one of the several major initiatives of India in recent years to help Sri Lanka. It was in sync with the policy of the Union government to provide assistance to the people of Sri Lanka. However, there was the usual baggage of anti-India statements by vested interests who have made India their constituency to stay relevant in national affairs.
India-Lanka relations have been seen through a narrow prism. The need to identify fault lines and distrust in bilateral relations is urgent and important. There are several options to consider. One way forward is to focus attention on southern Sri Lanka and the west coast, which have remained bastions of Sinhala-Buddhist society. This is the heartland that decides major issues, binding the parties in power to make decisions often not commensurate with contemporary developments.
The opposition to India’s participation in the West Coast Terminal project is one such example, and there are others too. It is not difficult to identify the vested interests here. These have cast a deepening shadow on India-Lanka relations. Policymakers on both sides have an arduous task ahead to try and remove the irritants.
The CPA opinion poll has some interesting revelations, especially about the JVP. The Inter University Students Front (IUSF) and Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) are of interest and may have the potential to influence people against India. The “united” JVP in the past had a clear anti-India agenda besides being identified as pro-Beijing.
To say that Hambantota is an irritant in India-Lanka relations is to state the obvious. The recent visit of Yuan Wan-5 has proved it beyond doubt and also exposed the limitations of Sri Lanka’s strategic thinking on such critical issues. This may be the beginning of a new challenge for both India and Sri Lanka as more such visits will take place in the future. This fault line has to be addressed by both sides. Obviously, there are lessons to be learnt here, especially for Sri Lanka’s policymakers.
The need for a detailed white paper on India-Sri Lanka relations has become necessary with the objective of bringing balance to it and highlighting India’s contributions. There is not much that is written on India’s role along with Norway in brokering the cease fire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); India’s insistence on creating the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to monitor the ceasefire; the activities of two Indian non-government organisations (NGOs) in humanitarian demining efforts in Vavuniya and Mannar; and India’s role in Tsunami relief. The list is endless.
Besides these, the 51st session of the UNHRC was also a matter of concern for Sri Lanka. India also voiced its concern over the non-implementation of the 13th amendment fully, which was devised under the Indo-Lanka accord in 1987.
India voiced its concern over what it called the lack of “measurable progress” by Sri Lanka on its commitments to a political solution to the ethnic issue.
India on Monday called for “immediate and credible action” for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment and the holding of Provincial Council elections at the earliest possible.
“India’s consistent view on peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka has been for a political settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, ensuring justice, peace, equality and dignity for the Tamils of Sri Lanka,” the Indian diplomat at the UNHRC said.