Sri Lanka hopes to have strong defence ties with China, India: PM
The Sri Lankan government said on Sunday that it needs to have strong defence ties with countries like China and India.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking at an event to mark the recruitment of a new batch of soldiers to the military, said that the Sri Lankan army needs to modernize to be on par with the developing world.
He said that in order to improve the standards of the army, Sri Lanka needs to maintain good ties with China, India and Pakistan as well as the United States and Britain.
“It is because of the relationship that we have with these countries that the army was able to develop.”
The prime minister said that Sri Lanka hopes to launch a program through the Ministry of Defence on future warfare to ensure the army is geared to face any situation in future.
The Sri Lanka army defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009 after 30 years of war which saw thousands killed on both sides.
Wickremesinghe, however, said that situations have now changed around the world and the Sri Lankan military must adapt to face those changes.
He added that with the end of the war, the wounds from the conflict must heal and efforts must be taken in that regard.
“When you have a wound it is not easy to heal,”he said.
The prime minister said that Sri Lanka will ensure the name of the military is protected as the country moves forward to heal the wounds of the past.
The army has been accused of being involved in human rights abuses during the final stages of the war, an allegation the former government denied. (Xinhua)
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Ranil is politically naive into believe that SL to believe that Sri Lanka could be on par with the rest of the world. Soon after he came to power he expected or thought that the western powers would come in a big way to assit Sri Lanka in a big way to promote his ideal, and probably that they believed it to be so. VIP s from the west came and their offers were only token gestures. Meanwhile most of the projects financed by the Chinese were put on ice hoping that others would take over from there and the Port City and lotus tower were abandoned and other major projects. These probably will remain until there is some credibility in the Ranil regime.
The lesson that Ranil ought to learn from this is that in the contemporary world one ought to have strong alliances however deplicable that he may find personally
Surely, RW is not “politically naive” enough to understand the “foreign aid” game.
The Chinese offerred to fund Rajapaksa’s white elephant projects because they were benefiting from interest rates well above competitive market interest rates. The share prices of Chinese Corporations through which Chinese aid was being made available to Rajapaksa sky rocketed in the Chinese bourse following their deals with GOSL.
When JRJ dreamt of accelerating the Mahaweli Projects in 1970’s, there was a roaring recession in the UK. They offered aid to JRJ to enable creation of opportunities to UK Construction Firms. At least, the Britishers ensured that they were investing in economically viable projects that will spur SL’s economy. Eventually, when benefits of UK’s Aid were realised, they wrote of the aid given to SL. That is indeed, a majestic gesture.
The Port City being funded by the Chinese is an economic and environmental disaster. The benfits from the projects will be confined to the “crows” that frequent night clubs in Colombo. The benefits will not reach the amude wearing taxpayer who lives in the remote villages on of our land.
My only complaint is that the Yahapalana leaders lack the backbone to reject incursions into the socio-economic welfare of our land.