By Vishwamithra –

“He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.” ~ Albert Camus

When I was kid in the fifties and sixties, our Sunday Daham School (Irida Iskole) used to have its yearly prize giving ceremony. The chief guest at the ceremony, more than once, was the Chinese Ambassador in Ceylon. He attended the ceremony with his all embracing simplicity, clad in his usual Mao uniform and spoke in Sinhala when he was asked to deliver his remarks. Chinese diplomats were remarkably trained and they executed their duties diligently and with military precision. They were never late for a function; they interacted with the locals with disarming simplicity and clarity; they won the hearts and minds of the little children whom they were supposed to inspire.

Chinese Ambassador Meets President Anura Kumara Dissanayake

At the time, the local politics was dominated by the Bandaranaikes, Senanayakes and NM Pereras. Corruption at the level of political leadership was not a subject that was being discussed; however, dishonesty and inefficiency featured fairly frequently in the daily national conversation. The Chinese approach to intertwining with the local leaders was much guarded and confined to the ambassadorial conclaves. The Ambassadors and their staff displayed, at least when they appeared on public platforms, to be basically shy and wanting to learn from the local environment in which they operated and acclimatized themselves with.

Yet it was a different time. The mechanics of the ‘cold war’ dominated the international dialogue. The United States of America and the then Soviet Union were constantly entangled in many a global dispute. Maoism was very much alive. As a matter of fact, that was the time the so-called ‘cultural revolution’ in China was being prepped and about to be launched; those who disagreed with the basic precepts of Maoism-Leninism were being targeted and put behind bars, condemned to rot in the deep dungeons; engendering a chain of of human rights violations. Sharp and lethal weapons of ideological warfare predominated the ideas-marketplace while Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and Nuclear Submarines preordained the activities of the weaponry bazaar.

Africa was just raising her head above the colonial waters; Asia has begun her pre-adolescence period, trying to stand on her feet after the crawling playtime. America and the Soviet Union along with Europe had total dominance over the United Nations Organization (UNO), even India the second-most populated country in the world at the time had hardly shown her potential.

In the midst of this volatile time in which the mere absence of direct military conflict between major powers was being defined as ‘peace’, the People’s Republic of China’ having been identified as a great potential power was still having her dwellings in the ‘Developing World’. China was taking its time; being self-assured by its leader Mao, she did not try to run before it could crawl. Patience, both in the diplomatic incursions into new territories and economic expansion to challenge the West, she approached the arena of international relations with charm, discipline and humility. Before conquering the vast expanse of the Asian continent, China adopted a strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Yet, the world was changing at a very rapid pace. The fourth Industrial revolution, that of Information Technology (IT) and its next stage, began to generate its results and the whole wide world was engulfed in the modern ways of communication and the interrelations between communities and nations assumed new dimensions; the entailing phenomena embraced these changes willingly. China in the wake  of Mao’s demise, with the advent of Deng Xiaoping on the steering wheel of the PRC (People’s Republic of China), the sky was the limit for China’s advancement to the point where she is now.

She adopted a totally fresh set of policies and principles. The narrow and closed mindset that enveloped the Chinese leaders opened out and a quasi kind of Capitalism dictated the terms of conditions of her meteoric march towards the twenty first century. The Rajapaksas assumed power in Sri Lanka approximately at this time. The ultra-aggressive approach with which China dealt with countries like Sri Lanka eventually became victims of this new economic and political opportunities so opened out by China’s new leaders. Classic symptoms of the dirty side of capitalism began manifesting themselves and the local political leaders, allegedly including President Rajapaksa’s family members, became the beneficiaries of the malpractice of Chinese-Sri Lankan diplomatic dynamics.

We still do not know as to who initiated the utterly unnecessary Mattala Airport, Hambantota Port and even Colombo Port City in addition to the rapid necessary development of our highway systems. Yet one cannot argue against very common-sensical and logical contention that Mattala airport, Hambantota Port and Colombo Port City should not be amongst our economic priorities. Instead of seeking Chinese assistance for the development of our industrial sector which could have provided a great number of employment opportunities to our semi-educated youth of both genders, we virtually allowed the capital borrowed at exorbitant rates,  to be buried in the waters of the Hambantota Port and solid cement of the Mattala Airport. The extremely aggressive diplomacy practiced by the Chinese government extracted what they desired to pull out leaving Sri Lanka a perpetual debtor to China.

One cannot blame China for this aggressive diplomacy; it is for the lending country’s advantage and it is their inherent right as an international lender. Profit, which was a bête noire for Maoism that dominated the thinking in China in the fifties, sixties and seventies, became a raison d’etre in the late twentieth and twenty first centuries. Economically far ahead of the rest of the world except the USA, today China is enormously respected and feared by small countries. The economic encroachment China has made into the third world is astounding. Approaching the most vulnerable leaders in each governmental and political setups in the third world, China’s army of businessmen and entrepreneurs is seeking to establish friendships and alluring social gatherings. The Rajapaksas became willing victims to China’s bellicose passage of financial cum economic inroads into our country.

How is our new government led by President Dissanayake (AKD) and his National People’s Power (NPP)   going to handle this Chinese factor. There is only one way. Chinese aggression must be balanced, not necessarily at the economic and financial level but at the very source of its attack. The slightest sign of corruption and underhand exchange of currency and other goodies must be stopped and a perpetual Board of Monitors should be charged with detecting and diagnosing any and all such corrupt practices. The government may not succeed one hundred percent; but an  aggressive policy of non-corrupt practices needs to be floated with administrators with impeccable credentials who can do it. If they are sixty percent successful, it has done its job successfully. Achieving 100% is no mean task and it would be impossible. The human condition is such, it is well within the realm of possibility that many who handle national coffers and its contents would be tempted to enrich themselves at the expense of the broader masses.

Creation of a new sociopolitical culture is an epic task. Such a transformation would not happen overnight. Seventy five years of apathy, malpractice and willing dishonesty and corruption cannot be undone in one term of the NPP rule. But a beginning can begin. The attitude of the government must always be proactive and aggressive. We cannot change China’s bellicose character; but we can be equally combative. Do we have the manpower so needed for such an exalted task. If we look earnestly we would find such men and women who would withstand the onslaught of an aggressive combatant such as China.

It is not only China that is engaged in aggressive diplomacy in the world today. India, our closest neighbor, the cultural big-brother, too will be engaged in the same tactics and diplomatic maneuvers and strategies. Both China and India are enormous powers. One in every seven men one meets in the global arena is either a Chinese or and an Indian. Against such insurmountable numbers, how can Sri Lanka who has been declared financially and economically bankrupt recently raise her head and negotiate with such giants? We will find that kind of talent amongst ourselves, if we look closely. That much I am sure of.

*The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com