Category Archives: China and Chinese influences

May 17, 2022 · 7:46 pm

Big Power Manoeuvres in and around Sri Lanka: The Bandarage Essay

Mr C .… an orignal piece for Thuppahi** … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

I found Asoka Bandarage’s essay was okay, but it suffers from a few argumentative flaws I will discuss in this article.  The writer has made many claims. Some of these I agree with. Her main argument comes towards the end of the article which may be summarized as follows: Sri Lanka must avoid being exploited by foreign powers or caught up in geopolitical adventures played out between India, China and the US – a goal which it can achieve by creating food and energy security for itself by exploiting natural resources, and she mentions an area of Sri Lanka containing oil and gas resources. We know Sri Lanka is a fertile land and can easily sustain rice and food crops, if managed properly.

 

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May 16, 2022 · 11:35 am

Neo-Colonial Modalities Overwhelming Sri Lanka

Asoka Bandarage, in The Island, 16 May 2022, with this title “Sri Lanka: Debt crisis, neocolonialism and geopolitical rivalry” …. with highlighting in blue being impositions from The Editor, Thuppahi

Sri Lanka is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis. Faced with a shortage of foreign exchange and defaulting on its foreign debt repayment, the country is unable to pay for its food, fuel, medicine, and other basic necessities. Notwithstanding the austerities that would be entailed, a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been accepted as the only way out of the dire economic situation.Opposition political parties, and citizens across the country, blame the Rajapaksa government’s widespread corruption and mismanagement for the crisis, and demand that the President and the Parliament resign. The Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa did so on 09 May 2022. However, the protesters at Galle Face Green, and elsewhere, have not been able to put forward an alternative leadership or a viable road map for the future. The country remains mired in confusion, chaos and a highly volatile political impasse.

 

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April 24, 2022 · 1:53 pm

FRONTLINE — Focus on Sri Lanka’s Woes

COVER STORY: Sri Lanka: The siege within …..Print edition : May 06, 2022……. [noting that the Editor was not able tomatch PHOTO and its subheading in some places]

.R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN

People, cutting across communities, are paying the price for the rulers’ misplaced policies and priorities. As the ruling Rajapaksas refuse to accede to the popular demand for their resignation, the island nation is on the verge of implosion.

 

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April 24, 2022 · 12:09 am

A Staged Default:  Sri Lanka’s Sovereign Bond Debt trap and IMF’s Spring Meetings

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, …. with black highlighting being her work and RED the intervention of The Editor, Thuppahi

In Cherry Blossom lined Washington DC in the glare of global media last week Sri Lanka became the poster child of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF), Spring Meetings. The strategic Indian Ocean island’s pathetic plight featured on major media and television channels that craft the global narrative, with images of people in queues amid food, fuel, and medicine shortages due to its crashing currency, soaring cost of living and ‘Arab Spring’ style protests.

 

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April 17, 2022 · 12:57 am

Sisira Jayasuriya eviscerates Ranjan De Silva

Sisira Jayasuriya ** in Email Memo to Thuppahi

Brigadier Ranjan De Silva’s Memo is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
China did not grab the port and the land because the government could not pay back ‘the loan taken’. The government leased the port to the Chinese to raise cash to pay the loans taken from the capital markets through international sovereign bonds.

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April 16, 2022 · 11:42 pm

Rebutting Brigadier Ranjan De Silva’s Pro-American Line of Advocac

Fair Dinkum has sent a memorandum in vehement criticism of my Aloysian schoolmate, Brigadier Ranjan De Silva’s Arguments (see below) …… Michael Roberts

The unjustified slurs and smears the Brigadier brings on China cannot go by unchallenged.

First, China didn’t “grab” a harbour of land in Sri Lanka. The word “grab” is a loaded term designed to smear China. There is a history and a context to this [project] which the Brigadier fails to explain. I won’t do so here because all of this has been well documented in many credible sources.

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April 14, 2022 · 1:05 pm

GLOBAL TIMES Features Sri Lanka’s Perilous Situation

Fair Dinkum’s Prefatory Comment, 14 April 2022

A reminder of the geopolitics that is infecting Sri Lanka to the detriment of its national interests. It is disappointing that the US and India are seizing on the crisis in Sri Lanka to blame China for Sri Lanka’s economic problems when everyone knows that is not the reason. There is no such thing as a China debt trap. China accounts for 10% of Sri Lanka’s debt. The remaining 90% is owed to Japan, India, the US and other Western entities, but no one talks about the debt owed to Japan, India or the US as a debt trap.

SEE ………GT Voice: Sri Lanka crisis shows risk of US sanctions to developing nations – Global Times……………..

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1259247.shtml

People purchase essential food items as the government imposed travel restrictions and two-week lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on May 25, 2021. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)

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April 6, 2022 · 10:00 am

John Landers’ Concerns re Australia’s Policy towards China

“Citizens Insight” hosts Interview with John Lander conducted by Robert Borwick ……………………….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4JWcv2FQAg

AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS’ PARTY  =  Veteran Australian diplomat speaks out against war danger Interview with John Lander, Former Deputy Ambassador to China (1974-76), Former Ambassador to Iran (1985–87) Hosted by Robert Barwick, Research Director of the Australian Citizens Party Contact the Australian Citizens Party campaigns: PHONE: 1800 636 432 EMAIL: info@citizensparty.org.au WEB: http://www.citizensparty.org.au Contact John Lander: voicealive@aol.com.

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March 24, 2022 · 6:30 pm

China as Ogre: USA’s Disinformation Campaign in Sri Lanka gathers Momentum

An Internationalist in the Anzac Realm** …………….has informed Thuppahi that “the US congress passed a bill last year that approved a half a billion US dollars to fund a global anti China media campaign which includes training hundreds of journalists to plant anti-china stories in every media outlet in every country the US can influence.   So we can expect such articles by the ton every 2 seconds.”

This Note was in response to Thuppahi’s Query about this item (one sent to me by a Lankan friend): viz https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-turns-its-back-on-sri-lanka-amid-massive-economic-crisis-report-2837606Inbox

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February 11, 2022 · 12:44 pm

Hambantota Port in Expansive Paths

News Item in The Island, 11 February 2022, with this title “Hambantota International Port broke new ground in 2021”

2021 was a watershed year for HIP with the port’s activities spreading in several new directions, which has created a unique ecosystem for economic prosperity for Sri Lanka.  The port worked to provide opportunities for maritime trade and investment on the East-West routes of the Indian ocean. HIP which is slated to become a topnotch multipurpose port is uniquely positioned to be a catalyst for the industrial development of the south of Sri Lanka through its industrial park situated within the port and adjacent development activities earmarked by the government of Sri Lanka.

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