GL asks for Chinese support against the US

Wednesday, 21 March 2012 

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has asked the Chinese External Affairs Minister to help get the support of the African nations to defeat a US backed resolution calling on the government to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to be taken up at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva.

A senior official from the External Affairs Ministry said that Peiris had made such a request.

The officials said the reason for the US to bring the resolution on Sri Lanka and India’s decision to support the move is due to Sri Lanka’s close ties with China. He noted that the reason for the US to intervene in the Maldives issues was because a Maldivian island had been given to the Chinese.

The officials explained that while successive government has practiced the non-aligned policy at various levels, but the country has become a victim of the battle between super powers since the Rajapaksa administration has built very close links with the Chinese.

He added that the decision to appoint the Secretary of the Communist Party, Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera as the Acting External Affairs Minister could pose a problem to the countries that are opposed to Communism.

However, soon after Indian Premier Manmohan Singh announced in parliament that the Indian government was going to support the resolution, Minister Peiris has told several officials who were around him that it was Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe who had pushed India to make such a decision.

Peiris has explained that Samarasinghe’s statement to the media in Geneva a few weeks back that the Indians would support Sri Lanka had irked the South Indian politicians who had exerted immense pressure on the Central government to vote in support of the resolution.