HeinzGud
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Successful Outcome of Ranil’s China Visit is a Big Blow to Indian Foreign Policy Machinations in Sri Lanka.
The fact that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe went to China at all reveals many things. Many believe that the Indian intelligence outfit RAW played a major role in bringing the present government into power by organizing the minorities. However it appears that the Indians don’t have as strong a hold on their supposed protégé’s as first thought.
The halting of the Chinese Port City project was a constant and plainly stated Indian demand when the Rajapaksa government was in power. Now the present government too has given the Chinese the go ahead to build the Port City and are trying to negotiate further Chinese involvement in Hambantota.
The Chinese may now in fact be better off than they were before, because earlier it was one political party seeking Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka – now both the main political parties are seeking Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka. Earlier the Indians had at least one major political party that would toe its line against the Chinese; now it has none.
One reason the government is keen to sign at least an ETCA framework agreement with India would be to placate the obviously furious Indians. As far as Indian foreign policy goes this is yet another fiasco like the involvement of the IPKF in the north and east in the late 1980s. The Indians tried to impose their will on Sri Lanka by sending troops to this country and at the hands of the LTTE, they faced more casualties than they had ever sustained even in the wars with China and Pakistan.
They had to leave SL with their tails between their legs and to make matters worse, for two decades the Indian central government never dared commemorate the Indian soldiers who had died in Sri Lanka for fear of rubbing Tamil Nadu on the wrong side. What has now happened to the Indians is even worse. The very government that they helped bring into power is opening the doors for China to come in. This is truly the land of Ravana as far as the Indians are concerned. Whatever they touch in this country blows up in their faces.
The Indian High Commissioner’s eagerness to get the ETCA framework agreement signed is probably due to the need to have something to show New Delhi. When the present government abruptly halted all Chinese funded projects including Port City which was inaugurated by the Chinese President himself, everyone thought that was a mortal insult to a country that had been so helpful to Sri Lanka over the decades. The insult to China now pales into insignificance in comparison to the insult that India has suffered. The Indian intelligence services would now be the laughing stock of Asia – having done everything to bring the present government into power, they now watch helplessly from the sidelines as their own protégés go to China to assure the Chinese everything that the Indians objected to in the first place.
The humiliation of India has been compounded by members of the ruling coalition including the TNA raising objections to the Sampur coal power plant project which the Indians had been pursuing assiduously. While India has been promoting the return of land acquired for security purposes in the north and east back to their original owners, it is this very factor which is now blocking the Sampur power plant with the new returnees alleging pollution concerns and the TNA also taking up their cry. The 65,000 houses project for former IDPs has also run into problems with the TNA raising objections to the Indian sponsored project – with good reasons as the material that was to be used for the construction of houses was simply not suitable to the climate in the north and east. Clearly this appears to be a time when Indian policy in Sri Lanka is in a state of collapse. At one moment it seemed as if Indian influence in Sri Lanka was at an all time high reminiscent of the 1986-87 period when India was able to bully Sri Lanka into following its diktat.
Courtesy:Sunday Island
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/46100
The fact that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe went to China at all reveals many things. Many believe that the Indian intelligence outfit RAW played a major role in bringing the present government into power by organizing the minorities. However it appears that the Indians don’t have as strong a hold on their supposed protégé’s as first thought.
The halting of the Chinese Port City project was a constant and plainly stated Indian demand when the Rajapaksa government was in power. Now the present government too has given the Chinese the go ahead to build the Port City and are trying to negotiate further Chinese involvement in Hambantota.
The Chinese may now in fact be better off than they were before, because earlier it was one political party seeking Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka – now both the main political parties are seeking Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka. Earlier the Indians had at least one major political party that would toe its line against the Chinese; now it has none.
One reason the government is keen to sign at least an ETCA framework agreement with India would be to placate the obviously furious Indians. As far as Indian foreign policy goes this is yet another fiasco like the involvement of the IPKF in the north and east in the late 1980s. The Indians tried to impose their will on Sri Lanka by sending troops to this country and at the hands of the LTTE, they faced more casualties than they had ever sustained even in the wars with China and Pakistan.
They had to leave SL with their tails between their legs and to make matters worse, for two decades the Indian central government never dared commemorate the Indian soldiers who had died in Sri Lanka for fear of rubbing Tamil Nadu on the wrong side. What has now happened to the Indians is even worse. The very government that they helped bring into power is opening the doors for China to come in. This is truly the land of Ravana as far as the Indians are concerned. Whatever they touch in this country blows up in their faces.
The Indian High Commissioner’s eagerness to get the ETCA framework agreement signed is probably due to the need to have something to show New Delhi. When the present government abruptly halted all Chinese funded projects including Port City which was inaugurated by the Chinese President himself, everyone thought that was a mortal insult to a country that had been so helpful to Sri Lanka over the decades. The insult to China now pales into insignificance in comparison to the insult that India has suffered. The Indian intelligence services would now be the laughing stock of Asia – having done everything to bring the present government into power, they now watch helplessly from the sidelines as their own protégés go to China to assure the Chinese everything that the Indians objected to in the first place.
The humiliation of India has been compounded by members of the ruling coalition including the TNA raising objections to the Sampur coal power plant project which the Indians had been pursuing assiduously. While India has been promoting the return of land acquired for security purposes in the north and east back to their original owners, it is this very factor which is now blocking the Sampur power plant with the new returnees alleging pollution concerns and the TNA also taking up their cry. The 65,000 houses project for former IDPs has also run into problems with the TNA raising objections to the Indian sponsored project – with good reasons as the material that was to be used for the construction of houses was simply not suitable to the climate in the north and east. Clearly this appears to be a time when Indian policy in Sri Lanka is in a state of collapse. At one moment it seemed as if Indian influence in Sri Lanka was at an all time high reminiscent of the 1986-87 period when India was able to bully Sri Lanka into following its diktat.
Courtesy:Sunday Island
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/46100