{"id":176757,"date":"2017-04-28T12:59:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T07:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=176757"},"modified":"2017-05-03T03:01:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T21:31:07","slug":"alleged-regime-change-trinco-port-conspiracy-theories-a-response-to-dj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/alleged-regime-change-trinco-port-conspiracy-theories-a-response-to-dj\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged \u2018Regime Change,\u2019 Trinco Port &#038; Conspiracy Theories: A Response To DJ \u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><strong>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Laksiri+Fernando&amp;x=11&amp;y=7\">Laksiri Fernando<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_92325\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92325\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-92325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-92325\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Balancing between India and China is the correct thing to do both in trade\/economic relations and foreign policy matters, without aligning with one against the other. This is undoubtedly easier said than done given both the local and (less visible) international pressures. The policy must be formulated within a broader framework of Non-Alignment without any semblance of aligning with any of the global powers, the US or Russia, while Sri Lanka could take a prominent role\/stand against any hostilities or war erupting in the region and beyond. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Both India and China could be Sri Lanka\u2019s closest friends, in the latter consideration, as their declared interests\/ambitions are primarily economic and not military. It is now time to resurrect the proposal of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranike to declare and maintain the Indian Ocean effectively as a Peace Zone.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is in the above context that Dayan Jayatilleka\u2019s (DJ) recent article \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/jan-8th-2015-regime-change-trinco-was-the-real-target\/\">Jan 8<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> 2015 Regime Change: Trinco Was The Real Target\u201d (Colombo Telegraph, 26 April) is quite unfortunate and irresponsible. To claim that \u2018Trinco was the real target of the January change\u2019 is pretty delusional. The real reason for this claim of course is his inability to appreciate the democratic change of government through the ballot box in January 2015, whatever the inherent weaknesses of the outcomes thereafter. It is a refusal of democracy that DJ has unfortunately demonstrated most of the time in favour of a regime like \u2018Kim Jong-un\u2019 in Sri Lanka. If the 2015 change had not taken place, Sri Lanka today would have been quite a duplicate of the North Korean regime. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The delusion goes on to say, \u201c<i>So this is also what the new Constitution is about<\/i>.\u201d What is again neglected or distorted is Sri Lanka\u2019s necessity and ability to change its constitution without dictates from other countries. A movement for constitutional reform has been there since 1994, first thwarted by the lack of agreement between the main two parties (in August 2000) and then by betraying the whole idea for the sake of strengthening the executive powers of a single person (in September 2010). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Conspiracy Theories <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">It is a blatant insult to the country and its people that the peaceful governmental change in 2015 (unlike Arab springs) and the intended constitutional changes are pictured as dictates of foreign conspiracies. Again, this shows DJ\u2019s no-confidence in democracy. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">There is a grand conspiracy theory behind DJ\u2019s main argument. As he says, this is what the January 2015 change was all about, \u201c<i>the US-India-Japan axis, securing through a puppet Prime Minister, the strategic prize of Trincomalee as part of its competition with China and Russia in the Asia\u2013Pacific region and especially the Indian Ocean.<\/i>\u201d His claim about a \u2018puppet Prime Minister\u2019 is quite personal that he has been indulging in without any decency in almost all his recent articles. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">To talk about a \u2018US-India-Japan axis competing with China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region or the Indian Ocean\u2019 is quite irresponsible to say the least. DJ is trying to dangerously give meaning to current situations (or bilateral alignments) in the image of the Second World War. The term \u2018Axis Powers\u2019 came into the use after a Tripartite Pact signed between Germany, Italy and Japan in September 1940. All these countries were fascist entities. Moreover, by that time, the second world war had already started; Germany invading Poland in September 1939 and Britain and France declaring war against Germany quite instantly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The danger of DJ is not that he is warning about the dangers of another destructive World War. But he appears thrilled about the possibility, and already outlining the battle lines, even implicating Sri Lanka into the calculation. It is similarly quite wrong to drag India into an Axis Power equation. India has been a major leader in the Non-Align Movement and in fact the NAM was largely a design of the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. India has signed a defence agreement with the US in recent times (2016), but not for the purposes of war but peace. There are similar agreements with Russia, the old friend of India. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Even in the case of Japan, although she is quite tied up with the US at present in defence or military terms (after Japan\u2019s unfortunate adventures in the World War II), if she is given the independent choice, Japan would prefer to be neutral or out of any future war. My studies in and on Japan during 2005\/6 have led me to this conclusion. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">There are of course competitions among countries that DJ has mentioned in the Asia-Pacific region, and in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Those must be confined to economic or trade \u2018competitions\u2019 and not beyond. It is in this context that Sirimavo Bandaranaike\u2019s proposal for a Peace Zone in the Indian Ocean should be again resurrected. Even in the case of trade and economic activities, there is much room for all to involve creatively and for the benefit of the poor people in the region. It is the peace that should be emphasised and promoted, and not war, although there are dangers given power ambitions, unwarranted fears or simple delusions like what DJ shares. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Trincomalee Harbour <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">DJ bases himself largely, in his arguments, on what Wade Shepard (WS) has written to \u2018<i>Forbes\u2019<\/i> (21 April) on \u201cNew Silk Road or New Great Game? India Developing New Sri Lanka Port to Combat China.\u201d This is again utterly a speculative article. At least, WS has a question mark to his title. But in the case of DJ, it is completely presented as the \u2018final truth,\u2019 as usual in his pompous style and rhetoric.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">WS\u2019 argument is that India irritated by China\u2019s growing influence in the country is trying to \u2018<i>jump in, show the money, and build something<\/i>.\u2019 And that is Trincomalee Port! Note the language he is using. WS is another DJ! Whether he knows or not, the Indian investments and trade agreements in Sri Lanka are long standing. Sri Lanka has been working with India in the SAARC context and whatever the current odds (spurred internally and externally), these links and relations should continue, keeping in mind the national interests. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">WS has not substantiated his claim that \u201cIndia Developing New Sri Lanka Port to Combat China\u201d in the article at all. On the contrary, it is not long time ago (exactly three months) that WS writing to the same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/forbes\/welcome\/?toURL=https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/wadeshepard\/2017\/04\/21\/new-silk-road-or-new-great-game-india-developing-new-sri-lanka-port-to-combat-china\/&amp;refURL=https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=176757&amp;preview=true&amp;referrer=https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=176757&amp;preview=true#beff1da206a7\">Forbes<\/a> (21 January) claimed that \u201cIndia Tells Sri Lanka: You Can Take Your Port and Shove It.\u201d If there had been a sudden \u2018Axis conspiracy\u2019 within these three months, WS and DJ should show it with facts. Nothing at all. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">WS\u2019s January article was speculative as much as the present one. Therefore, on this matter or others, one should not take WS or DJ seriously. They are \u2018trouble makers\u2019 fishing in troubled waters. Although WS is now a repeated writer on Asian matters, he has a clear slant against China\u2019s economic progress. He is the author of \u2018<i>Ghost Cities of China<\/i>.\u2019 Perhaps he must be harbouring the same type of \u2018envy\u2019 against India\u2019s economic progress now. Until recently he was just a \u2018free-wheeling\u2019 and \u2018fancy-blogger\u2019 who has come to some fame because of his antipathy and arguments against Asia. This is the person DJ is depending on as an authority on the subject!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">It may be correct to say, naturally, that India could be apprehensive if there are undue Chinese influence in Sri Lanka. However, Sri Lanka should not try to appease it artificially. India\u2019s economic relations with Sri Lanka are long standing. There is no reason for India to suddenly \u2018jump in\u2019 as WS claims. If both countries, India and China, are interested in investing, helping and undertaking projects in Sri Lanka, beneficial to the country and the people, there is nothing wrong in encouraging both.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But what must be kept in mind is not only national interests, but also Sri Lanka\u2019s economic and developmental priorities without depending too much on any of them. On this count, the present administration, and particularly the PM\u2019s office, appears lackadaisical and quite dependent on other countries and investments. There should be a stronger national effort to encourage local entrepreneurship, promote savings and investments, and to undertake developmental projects. In this respect, there is some semblance of truth in what DJ says on the present economic policies. On the foreign policy front, Sri Lanka\u2019s \u2018non-alignment\u2019 and the \u2018middle path\u2019 foreign policies, although not always properly followed, are well suited to face the evolving confrontational situations in the region and beyond. Sri Lanka should not be aligned with anyone in this \u2018great game.\u2019 <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":92325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alleged \u2018Regime Change,\u2019 Trinco Port &amp; Conspiracy Theories: A Response To DJ \u00a0 \u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/alleged-regime-change-trinco-port-conspiracy-theories-a-response-to-dj\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alleged \u2018Regime Change,\u2019 Trinco Port &amp; 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