Ceylon Today Editorial

Prime Minister off to ‘Land of the Rising Sun’

10 April 2017

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe leaves for Japan today to enhance relations between the two countries.

Premier Wickremesinghe and his entourage is the first high profile delegation to visit Japan since the National Unity Government was formed for good governance in 2015.

As changes are rapidly taking shape in Sri Lanka's landscape with the Colombo Port City development project to enhance the battered economy of the island, Japan's role in the overall development of the island nation is inevitable.

Japan remains an exemplary country to the entire world in overcoming man-made disasters with its experience of the atomic bomb attack during World War II and natural calamities such as earthquakes and tsunamis which threaten the country frequently.

Geographically located directly east of China, the ancient Chinese first thought the Sun rises from Japan and it was due to this belief that Japan later became popular in the international scene and nicknamed 'Land of the Rising Sun'.

Now with Sri Lanka's capital city getting a facelift with the Colombo Port City project, new economic ventures are expected to boom in the Port City which is being built by China to make Sri Lanka's Singapore dream, a reality.

Strong ties between Sri Lanka and Japan date back to nearly six decades with the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, the late J.R. Jayewardene who was also the political mentor of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing at the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951 emphasizing the need to readmit Japan to the World community after World War II.

Japan that was impressed by the supportive role played by late President J.R. Jayewardene at the San Francisco Peace Conference, was in the forefront to extend its support to Sri Lanka when J.R. Jayewardene became President in 1978.

To extend its gratitude to Sri Lanka, the new Parliament building in Sri Jayewardenepura, Kotte was built by Japan along with setting up Sri Lanka's first television station, Rupavahini.

Japan also went to the extent of even erecting a statue for the late President J.R. Jayewardene at the Kamakura temple in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan in 1988.

Under President Jayewardene's open economic policy, Japan stood by Sri Lanka in initiating several development activities.

It is also important to remember the supportive role played by Japan as one of the co-chairs in the peace initiatives carried out by Norway when the ruthless war was in progress.

Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi travelled to Sri Lanka several times to extend Japan's support to create peace in Sri Lanka when the Norwegian peace process was in progress.

Apart from its diplomatic assistance, Japan also provided financial assistances to stabilize ceasefire activities in the island.

Since Sri Lanka being now focused to straighten its crippled economy, the long-standing healthy relations with Japan will certainly be a pathfinder in the island nation's journey to heal its scars of war and reach new vistas in the development sector.

In the backdrop of several changes that have occurred in the geopolitical scene globally, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Japan is timely as far as Sri Lanka's international relations are concerned with regard to its political and economic activities.

As the regional superpowers, India and China have already stepped into the island along with America considering Sri Lanka as a strategic location in South Asia for its regional political and military exploits, the island nation should ensure that it is not turned into a hub for superpower tussle in the Indian Subcontinent.

Therefore, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's official visit to the 'Land of the Rising Sun' at this juncture could even be considered a timely diplomatic move towards handling regional and International relations in the best interests of Sri Lanka.