“The Beijing Swift” - By Prof. Samitha Hettige ©

It was reported that a responsible citizen during a discussion on the budget has warned people to be careful of Sinhala politicians who create conflicts and fractions among different ethnic groups. It will be more valid if all extremist politicians from all ethnic groups are added instead of Sinhalese. According to reports the person has also said that that it is the Chinese the Sinhalese should be afraid of and not the Tamils or the Muslims. He has very accurately said that the Sinhalese are not able to see the real picture (Few decades ago Tibetan monk Mahinda made a similar statement in a more poetic way). He had asked if Sri Lanka would want to be another Pakistan or another Laos. He had been worried about a Chinese debt trap. He had also questioned about the number of jobs the Chinese investments have created in Sri Lanka. According to him Chinese investments have created no employment opportunities since the Chinese bring their countrymen to work on the projects. According to him China needs a base in South Asia and hence invest in the ports etc.

China has had more than 2000 years of bilateral relations with Sri Lanka dating back to the Anuradhapura era. Historical records indicate that it was China who supported to establish Jayewardenepura as the Capital hundred years before the arrival of the Portuguese. The stone plaque at the National Museum (written in Tamil, Persian and Chinese) explains the 700-year strong bond between the nations when the USA and Australia were not in existence and Europeans were not in Asia. Most Sinhalese will not understand it since they can’t read or write Tamil. If Sri Lanka can be another Pakistan it may be advantageous because they negotiated and got more from the Belt and Road Initiative unlike Sri Lanka which on its own gave the Hambantota port to the Chinese with no or little negotiations. Some analysts say that Sri Lanka could have got more for Hambantota than the approx. one billion USD we got during the previous administration. According to CBSL the loans from China is approx. 10% of our total loans. Therefore, we better worry about other traps as well.

The USA has bases near Mauritius and in Okinawa but never used us as such. We were used as a Military base by India, Portugal, Dutch and the British during the last 2500 years. Though a super power, China historically has not invested on Military bases outside its territory according to Chinese records. It is said that few thousand Sri Lankans lost employment when the Port City Project was suspended in 2015 by the then Government. It is the first ever mega investment that came our way after the war ended. The war of course was initiated by extremist politicians. During the war China gave us unconditional support to end it. Thousands of Sri Lankans from all ethnic groups can be seen employed at; the BMICH, Supreme Court Complex, Shangri-La Hotels in Colombo and Hambantota, Hambantota Sea and Airport, managing the expressways built by Chinese companies. After restarting the Port City project, the previous administration was also expecting to provide more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs to Sri Lankans in the Port City once completed. The employees should be careful of extremist politicians of all ethnic groups.

(The writer is an Academic and a Broadcaster. Views expressed are personal and may not necessarily be the views of his affiliations.)