Visit of Pompeo and Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka
Certain quarters have been misplacing the significance of the recent visit of US State Secretary Mike Pompeo to Colombo. SL President and Commander-in-Chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s choice to continue the already on track military cooperation with the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is the determining factor, particularly at the strategic port city of Trincomalee where once LTTE Tamil terrorist wanted to build their commercial city. One has to judge the geopolitical orientation of the Sri Lanka state based on the defence-related choices being made and not based on ‘predator’ vs ‘friend’ rhetoric between the US and China.
Wherever Pompeo goes, be it London or Colombo, this rhetoric is the same.
On Friday, the Indian Navy test-fired an anti-ship missile hitting a maximum-range target in the Bay of Bengal in a show of demonstrating its ability to hit adversary vessels with “precise accuracy” from Guided Missile Corvette, according to a tweet and imagery released by the Indian Navy.
The same day, the Indian Air Force air-launched a supersonic cruise missile hitting a test-target in the Bay of Bengal.
The latest field demonstrations aimed at China come a week after a similar show of strength in the Arabian Sea on the western side of the Indian Ocean, where New Delhi passed a slightly different military message of ‘deadly accuracy’ to Pakistan and by extension to China.
The Indian hard power demonstrations in the Indian Ocean came ahead of the India-led Malabar 2020 naval exercise between the four major actors of the “Quadrilateral” (Quad), the Indo-Pacific defence cooperation between Japan, Australia, India and the US.
The phase one of the Quad war games commences on November 03 off Visakhapatnam, the port city of Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal. The second part of the war games is scheduled to take place in the Arabian Sea between November 17 and 20.
The war games come following India’s decision to include Australia in the Malabar 2020 earlier this month, especially after the 2020 ministerial Quad meeting that took place in Tokyo on 06 October. The meeting was also described as the first standalone Quad meeting.
A key decision taken at the Quad meeting was to chart and work with other “like-minded” partners.
Sri Lanka needs to perceive Pompeo’s visit to Colombo as a Quad invitation to establishment to strengthen SL’s “like-minded” partner status.
While in Colombo, Pompeo said: “Indeed, a strong, sovereign Sri Lanka is a powerful and strategic partner for the United States on the world stage. It can be a beacon for a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
While the Chinese infrastructure projects and increased engagement has triggered concerns of the increased influence of Beijing, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been claiming that no harm would befall the so-called sovereignty of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka.
In the meantime, the “international safety-net” fame former SL Minister and think-tanker, Milinda Moragoda, now serving as the High-Commissioner to India has been busy arranging “interlocutor” contacts to maintain diplomatic relations between the SL State and the US-India alliance to smooth the relationship with China.
Last year, Mr Pompeo had cancelled a scheduled visit fearing repercussions due to the electoral politics in the South. Now, the elections are over, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa has consolidated the parliamentary and constitutional power to develop the country and strengthen the national security over any Tamil terrorism or Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka.
The real intention behind the Asia visit of the US defence and state secretaries was to finalise the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), the last of the foundational defence agreements with India. New Delhi and Washington DC were rushing to complete it before the US elections.
One should also note that the US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper who accompanied Mike Pompeo to New Delhi didn’t visit Colombo.
“In a wide-ranging discussion with His Excellency, the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and our own discussions have generated a renewed momentum to the conversations with key American interlocutors have had with Sri Lankan leaders over the past months this year,” said SL Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene at the press availability with Mr Pompeo in Colombo.
He reiterated the role of the “key US interlocutors” in his address:
“And as we go along, Secretary, today’s discussions are a continuation of interactions of His Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with key US interlocutors, dialogue which took place virtually between myself and Secretary Pompeo a few months ago. ”
He was repeating it after saying the following:
“The U.S. has been a friend and assisting Sri Lanka in times of difficulty, and we remain deeply grateful for your support. US assistance to Sri Lanka after the Asian tsunami in 2004 was significant. I recall the visits of former President George Bush Sr. and former President Bill Clinton, their assistance in the aftermath. Also in the recent times of Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in April 2019 and also most recently for the COVID-19 mitigation. Especially, I also extend my sincere thanks and appreciation once again for proscribing the LTTE terrorist organization even before 9/11 attacks and up to now.”
If Gotabaya Rajapaksa continues with US military interactions and the US warships continue to dock at Trincomalee, it would signal accomplishment of the so-called ‘Moragoda Doctrine’. The trend could go to the extent of the scrapping of the provincial council system. Moragoda has been calling for the end of the PC system through his think-tank for some time. All nationalist and many senior ministers in the government are calling to scrap the 13th Amendment and its Provincial Council which enforced on Sri Lanka by force by pro-LTTE Indian government lead by Rajeev Gandhi who paid the price for it from his life.
Apart from the Hindutva politics, China-India geopolitics also played a significant role in triggering the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The pattern of Pompeo’s “sovereignty” concerns of Sri Lanka is a strong message to Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka and works wide.
Sri Lanka needs to judge the geopolitical trends based on the impacts felt by the country on the ground by the erosion of their territorial integrity, distinct sovereignty and the national security, all of which are important for the unitary state of Sri Lanka.
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