Foreign Affairs

[Praetorian]

We don't need foriengers. We should let our own companies invest in those ares. Government must also help them by providing additional loans/grants etc.

Also Trinco projects etc should be given to China for development, or we should ask for Chinese investment etc, like what is happening in the south with Habanthota.

(Plus point also being having China in Trinco is like sticking the finger up at India )

[Fusionist]

Originally Posted by Praetorian

Also Trinco projects etc should be given to China for development, or we should ask for Chinese investment etc, like what is happening in the south with Habanthota.

(Plus point also being having China in Trinco is like sticking the finger up at India )

Interesting you look at it this way. I would agree that economic ties with China is beneficial but not stratergic or military ones. SL needs to be careful with port projects especially Trinco. It is better to have better relationship with India ( for regional stability ) and the US ( for economic and political stability ) rather than leftist China which is trying to buy its way into South Asia. This can be used to gain bargaining power, but not necessarily means giving up too much to China so that it might affect SLs relationship with India or US.

[phil.froelich]

Yeah, i agree with Fusionist...

[sjinadasa]

Well, our main bargaining tool with the future superpowers would be Trinco, mainly. So we should protect that card, and not make anyone like India, China USA etc nervous... and we should use it to make them dance to our tunes and not the other way. Local Investments ftw !

[Praetorian]

SL's relationship with India and the US is crap. India especially.

We need to make decision not based on tomorrow but 50 years into the future.

I still think going the way of the Dragon is best for us, for our future. Making what appears as a difficult decision now will benefit us later. Something SL politicians, and the SL people fail to realise by making short term decisions all the time, while everyone else makes long term decisions and reap the rewards later.

Same problem with farmers not wanted to part with their land and moronic politicos making capital out of it.

The Southern port and airport are much needed. I heard India is fuming over the Southern port project, as it will ruin Indian ports. Plans to develop ports in the South were mooted in CBK times when Indian businessmen who had vested interests in transhipment, sent plenty of bribes over to prevent any construction.

[Fusionist]

The other thread seem to be going out of topic.. so I am moving the relevent posts here.

Please note :

Also this thread is not meant to make poltical statements OR too much negativity. Please DO NOT make any INFLAMATORY comments. Also please mind your language... let me run this on a trial basis and see if it works out..I will close the thread if it goes into contraversies.

Please let us show that we can discuss an issue maturely without fighting.

[Fusionist]

Originally Posted by Praetorian

I heard India is fuming over the Southern port project, as it will ruin Indian ports.

Same way the Indian Sethu Samuthiram Project will affect Sri Lankan ports. It will be interesting to the outcome of these two projects by the two respective govts.

[Praetorian]

Originally Posted by Fusionist

The other thread seem to be going out of topic.. so I am moving the relevent posts here.

Please note :

Also this thread is not meant to make poltical statements OR too much negativity. Please DO NOT make any INFLAMATORY comments. Also please mind your language... let me run this on a trial basis and see if it works out..I will close the thread if it goes into contraversies.

Please let us show that we can discuss an issue maturely without fighting.

Where did this thread come from?! I thought this post was deleted for the very reason mentioned above???

[Fusionist]

Originally Posted by Praetorian

Where did this thread come from?! I thought this post was deleted for the very reason mentioned above???

no, i had merely moved it cos it is out of topic in the other thread. Its always been here since I moved it. And your post was edited for the reasons mentioned above, not deleted and I had sent you a pm with an explanation why it was edited.

[VaastuShastra]

Here is what I would do:

I would seek investment and relations from every country I could, not just one. India and China and the USA and Japan and ASEAN and the EU - because its best to diversify one's relations, instead of relying on any one source of support.

And as Fusionist said, the Americans, Japanese and EU have the benefit of economic stability - because it is unclear whether the Chinese economy is sustainable, or whether there will be a harsh fall. I personally think the latter might happen unless there is reform in the next 10 years, for reasons which are described in Will Hutton's 'The Writing on the Wall'.

[Praetorian]

Originally Posted by Fusionist

no, i had merely moved it cos it is out of topic in the other thread. Its always been here since I moved it. And your post was edited for the reasons mentioned above, not deleted and I had sent you a pm with an explanation why it was edited.

I understand why it was edited or even deleted, i just didn't expect you to create thread out of it and then say whats wrong with what i posted all over again thats all.....basically i got the message in the PM.

[Fusionist]

Originally Posted by Praetorian

I understand why it was edited or even deleted, i just didn't expect you to create thread out of it and then say whats wrong with what i posted all over again thats all.....basically i got the message in the PM.

well the comment ( post no. 6 ) in this thread is a general precautionary statement ( didn't intend to point fingers in particular ) so that the thread doesn't run into contraversies. Ideally the precautionary statement should have been the first post in the thread, but I cant move it up front as posts are listed date wise.. and the first 5 posts were made prior to the creation of the thread and were moved here. The thread was created or moved, not with the aim to point out things at you but to continue the topic if you like, in a sane manner. There are plenty of stuff to discuss about foreign affairs especially when SL is looking abroad for investment.

[saraprobe]

Bangkok (ANTARA News) - Sri Lanka missed its chance to join the nascent Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a meeting held in Bangkok four decades ago, primarily because of objections raised by Singapore, a Thai daily claimed on Monday.

Sri Lanka sent two ministers to apply for membership in ASEAN on August 6, 1967, when foreign ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore met at Thailand's Bang Saen beach resort to hash out the Bangkok Declaration, which led to the birth of the regional grouping, reported The Nation newspaper.

But the Sri Lankan application was snubbed by Singapore's then foreign minister Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, said the English-language daily, citing a retired Thai diplomat.

"It was Rajaratnam of Singapore who opposed the inclusion of Sri Lanka," said Sompong Sucharitkul, 75. "He argued the country's domestic situation was unstable and there would be trouble. Not good for a new organization," Sompong was quoted by DPA as telling The Nation in a rare interview.

Sompong was a close aide to Thanat Khoman, the Thai foreign minister at the time of the meeting in Bang Saen. The Bangkok Declaration was finally signed on August 8, 1967, ASEAN's official birthday.

ASEAN, which remains a key economic and political grouping in Asia, now includes Brunei, which joined in 1984, Vietnam (1995), Laos and Myanmar (1997) and Cambodia (2000), plus the five original members - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.

The only South-east Asian nation that has not yet been included in the regional club is East Timor. Sri Lanka is considered part of South Asia. (*)

ANTARA news

[JD]

As VaastuShastra said, SriLanka should try to maintain good economic relations with everyone. No point thinking too far in future because it ain't set yet. Better safe than sorry.

[saraprobe]

Originally Posted by tytler

As VaastuShastra said, SriLanka should try to maintain good economic relations with everyone. No point thinking too far in future because it ain't set yet. Better safe than sorry.

Like John Howard

[TallBox]

Agree about maintaining good relations with everyone. To be pragmatic though, India is our natural ally and we should stand by it. Also, despite what has happened in the past, I trust India. It is not the belligerent superpower that China is. We share a common culture, language and heritage with them. Also, India is democratic.

Globally, we're better to align with the US than China - America's culture pervades the rest of the world, in Europe, Australia and indeed in India. There's also something safer about being aligned to a country that is susceptible to the same economic, political and social threats that Sri Lanka is. By that, I mean China is more isolationist (atm) and therefore their foreign policy works directly in their interest. The US, although their foreign policy serves them, to be a friend is safer than being an enemy.

The first poster is a bit myopic - we can't afford to turn foreign money away. That's what has happened with successive socialist governments, interested in petty nationalism than the prosperity of the country.

I'd also like to see Australia invest in Sri Lanka. It's pretty obvious that I favour the anglophone world but I think that that is the route Sri Lanka should take.

[saraprobe]

The United States is likely to share its most advanced spy technology Global Hawk consortium idea with Sri Lanka and several other Asian countries at a conference being planned for next year to boost security in the Asia –Pacific region.

A highly placed Sri Lankan defence official told the Daily Mirror that unofficial discussions had taken place in this regard between the US and Sri Lanka although an official request or invitation to attend such a conference in the US had not been received.

Global Hawk
Length: 13.5 metres
Wingspan: 35.4 metres
Cruising speed 650 km/h
Service ceiling: 65,000 feet
Endurance: 34 hours

The Reuters news agency quoting the U.S. Pacific Command yesterday said the conference tentatively planned for April in Hawaii would discuss an informal regional grouping to support the high-flying, remotely piloted Global Hawk built by Northrop Grumman.“Our intent is to involve as many nations as possible in whatever capacity they want to be involved,” the command's air component said in e-mailed replies to questions from Reuters.

Global Hawk entered service after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. It is designed to survey vast areas with near pinpoint accuracy from as high as 65,000 feet for up to 35 hours. The data can be fed from the $27.6 million aircraft nearly instantly to commanders on the ground.

With its advanced radar, optical and infrared sensors, it will become a key U.S. intelligence asset in Asia and the Pacific when it starts flying from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in 2009.

Partner countries could allow alternative landing and launch sites for the Global Hawk.

The United States is initially pitching the Global Hawk consortium idea to Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Brunei and Sri Lanka, the Reuters news report said.

Capt. Kristen Miller, a spokeswoman for Pacific Air Forces headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, said the list of invited countries could grow later. Gen. Paul Hester, who heads U.S. Pacific Air Forces, told reporters in Washington last week he hoped to bring Global Hawk to the region next year to demonstrate its capabilities.


DM

[phil.froelich]

Interesting news...

[saraprobe]

At a press briefing held this afternoon in Colombo, Minister of Media, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana announced that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Iran had been very successful. He was awarded a grand reception and many areas of interest between the two countries were cordially discussed.
Following these discussions a joint communiqué was issued by the two leaders. Their discussions centered on below mentioned MoUs, expansion of mutual cooperation on shipping, customs formalities, construction of multi-purpose water and energy projects, increasing oil refinery capacities, expansion of cooperation between Radio and Television Networks of the two countries, investments as well as developing ties between the two sides’ of Chambers of Commerce and Samurdhi development projects.

An allocation of US $ 400 million was made for the implementation of Uma Oya Hydro Power Plant and a further US $ 700 billion loan for the improvement of the capacity of the Sapugaskanda Crude Oil refinery.

The theme of their discussion was based on peace and development.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa also had an interview with Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khumenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. In the discussions that followed the Khumeni assured Sri Lanka of his support in her endevours for peace and development.

He also exalted President Rajapaksa with the assurance that the President of Iran would visit Sri Lanka in 2008 to participate in the inauguration ceremony of one of the two major projects viz: the Uma Oya Hydro Power Project or the Developed Oil Refinery project.

news.lk

[phil.froelich]

good news, what is the or part? Are they only gonna do one of those projects...