With Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abywardena announcing that Sri Lankan Parliament will elect a new president to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, decks have been cleared for a consensus nominee for the top position. A report by Gopal Misra
It was anticipated; it did not have any surprise element when the world witnessed the ignominious exit of Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa abandoning his palace to seek refuge in some naval ship. He is expected to be replaced by a new president on July 20, thus ending the political crisis of the island nation at least for the time being, but the country’s economic seize may continue to haunt the country for many more years.
It appears that with Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abywardena announcing that Sri Lankan Parliament will elect a new president to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa on July 20, decks have been cleared for a consensus nominee for the top position as well as the formation of an all party government to replace the outgoing regime.
The political-economic crisis of Sri Lanka, perhaps, is a wakeup call for countries, including India, where Chinese are investing huge funds. It is being stated that if the Chinese funds could destabilise Sri Lanka, thereat to India could be much deeper, where the Chinese funds have penetrated in key sectors, including infrastructure, academic institutions and IT industries.
There is an element of surprise that in spite of its burgeoning dollar reserves, why China did not rescue Sri Lanka from the current economic crisis. Apart from the Chinese debt trap, Sri Lanka’s economic woes have increased during the regime of the outgoing government due to the poor governance, lack of transparency and the rampant corruption at the highest level.
It is often stated that the Chinese companies do not hesitate in bribing the concerned authority for obtaining a project in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In a bid to woo the local rulers, the bribe amount is often as high as 20 per cent of the project cost, which is generally paid to the concerned authorities and political bosses in advance through various shell companies.
The year-long acute economic crisis has led to fury on the streets of Sri Lanka forcing the president and the prime minister to quit finally. The protestors have also set the private residence of Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on fire.
China’s economic help to Sri Lanka, according to the experts of geo-politics, was a part of obtaining strategic, political and security leverage against India in the Indian Ocean region. The Chinese, perhaps, expected that the financial crisis might be used to trigger off yet another ethnic crisis in the island nation. It, however, appears that India’s prompt assistance to Sri Lanka has foiled the Chinese agenda.
