The dragon laughs
23 December 2016
Time was when Sri Lankans thought they were blessed with more grey
matter than their Chinese counterparts. Their superiority complex is
evident in a popular local expression which they still habitually use on
being told a tall tale: konde bendapu cheennunta kiyapan— ‘go tell it
to the Chinese with chignons’. But, today, the Chinese sans chignons,
smartly dressed in western attire, have turned the tables on Sri
Lankans who think no end of themselves and have underestimated the
power of Confucianism.
India, which gave a RAW deal to
President Mahinda Rajapaksa for being pro-Chinese and allegedly went to
the extent of helping topple him last year, has got a raw deal from
its darling, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, which is desperate
for Chinese funds for its survival. The current political leaders
opposed the Chinese funded Port City, which was under construction at
the time of the last presidential election and inveighed against the
Rajapaksa government for appeasing China at the expense of the country’s
sovereignty and relations with India and the western block. But,
today, they have made a complete volte-face; they have not only
authorised the resumption of the construction of the Port City but also
allowed the Chinese company concerned to reclaim more land from the
sea! Whoever would have thought the bigmouths of the incumbent regime
would grovel before the Chinese? China has also got the Hambantota port
and 15,000 acres in that area at bargain prices as it were. It
couldn’t have asked for more! It has outfoxed not only Sri Lankan
politicians but also their foreign allies.
China having
thus got the best of both worlds, it will be interesting to see the
reaction of India, the US and others, which helped engineer last year’s
regime change here, to the handover of the Hambantota port and
thousands of acres in its vicinity to the Chinese, their common enemy.
Their silence is baffling. The Hambantota port is of strategic
importance to China in that it lies close to its energy routes as is
only too well known.
China’s rivals, however, cannot be
expected to take it lying down. Now, Sri Lanka is of more strategic
importance to them with China having secured the Hambantota port. They
usually don’t baulk at anything in their efforts to protect their
interests; they have a history of even bombing countries back into the
Stone Age for that purpose. One wonders whether they have made a virtue
of necessity by allowing the cash-strapped Sirisena-Wickremesinghe
government, which they certainly cannot help financially, to strike the
controversial port deal with China so that they can use it to gain a
foothold in Trincomalee and/or Mattala? There is no way the government
can refuse if they want to have a permanent presence here. If what is
feared comes to pass—absit omen!—this country will become another
battleground for world powers and find itself in the same predicament
as the proverbial monkey which placed itself between two elephants
engaged in a fierce clash, as we argued in this space the other day.
The
Joint Opposition (JO), consisting of UPFA politicians loyal to the
Rajapaksas, is in a quandary as regards the controversial Hambantota
deal. The JO big guns cannot back it openly as they do not want to irk
the public and lose votes as a result; they cannot oppose it either
because of their strong bonds with China, which has been solidly behind
them. Their mild criticism of the deal is sickening. They are floating
like bees and stinging like butterflies while the government is
suppressing workers’ rights, crushing labour struggles, endorsing
attacks on the media and forcing the public into submission so as to
curry favour with China and obtain loans.
Sri Lankans should
stop using the aforesaid Chinese-with-chignons expression, which is no
longer valid. Their own government has taken them for asses! It is
said that people get the governments they deserve.
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