China: A Forever Friend
China of course is not the only country, we ourselves in the past ten years have also experienced corruption on a scale as never before; we need most definitely to have transparency not only in government transactions but also in the Corporate sector, we, the people, must next have the Right to Information and all Members of Parliament and officials and families must be required to declare their assets which must be public documents and last but not least, whistle blowers MUST BE PROTECTED and rewarded, as those who give evidence in criminal cases. The penalty for violation should be extreme to protect our country.
by K. Godage
( March 7, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am happy to note that this government which appeared to have, immediately after taking office, struck, what was perceived to be an anti-China stance, perhaps because of the contentious Port City Project, has corrected itself and is now reaching out to China, which has stood with us and assisted us at the worst of times from 1971 and more particularly through the war years both with equipment to defend our country and also at the UN Security Council; this course correction is without doubt absolutely in our national interest. I was happy to learn that Ministers Malik Samarawickrema and Sagala Ratnayake have concluded a successful visit to prepare for the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in April.
My first visit to China was in 1975, when the roads were filled with bicycles, motor cycles and a few cars, but on my last visit there, (my eighth) two years ago, I hardly saw a cyclist, it was cars and more cars, Lambroginis, Mercs, you name them and they have them, with a few motor bicycles, in Beijin and Shanghai of course; yes the country has indeed moved on, particularly in the past 30 plus years after Deng Xiao Ping opened their economy and moved away from Marxist economics, though the Communist Party still retains control. From the time the economy was opened they have had a ten percent annual growth rate, that was how their economy grew to what it is today. It is most likely that even with a 7% growth rate it would overtake the US by 2020.
Counter adverse publicity
Despite this amazing expansion I do believe her principal concern today is her image and of how the world sees her; this I believe is what she is presently addressing and spending billions on; because her image has been tainted in recent months by interested parties, claiming that China has imposed draconian restrictions on her people at home including the media. Yes China has now mounted a major PR effort to counter adverse publicity and protect and advance her image.
With such tremendous growth and prosperity invariably comes corruption and China is no exception for the Chinese are also human and when the opportunity is there some do succumb particularly when the stakes are high; many big heads have begun to roll in China.
China of course is not the only country, we ourselves in the past ten years have also experienced corruption on a scale as never before; we need most definitely to have transparency not only in government transactions but also in the Corporate sector, we, the people, must next have the Right to Information and all Members of Parliament and officials and families must be required to declare their assets which must be public documents and last but not least, whistle blowers MUST BE PROTECTED and rewarded, as those who give evidence in criminal cases. The penalty for violation should be extreme to protect our country.
Western countries
Our relationship with China is indeed a very special relationship both to them and us; the fact that we gave them that strategic commodity Rubber, which no other rubber producing country in Asia or LA was prepared to give them at the time of the Korean War, has not and will not be ever forgotten by them, they have repeatedly told us so. Sri Lanka was among the first countries to recognize the Republic of China and also to support her claim to a seat in the Security Council.
China has over the years not only built our first National Convention Center, the BMICH, but provided significant military and economic aid to our country; a fact little known is that China stood by us at the worst of times during the war with the LTTE, when certain western countries sought to use the Security Council to stop the war and save the LTTE which waged war to divide our country. China never got involved in any foreign inspired so called ‘Peace Process’ to arrive at a negotiated settlement for she knew that Prabhakaran had only one goal and that was to establish a separate state in Sri Lanka.
China has made a tremendous contribution to our infrastructure development, the Hambantota harbour project is an example. I have been given to understand that the project had been first offered to India, which had ‘dragged its feet’ on it and hence it had been offered to China, which had snapped it up. I am happy to learn that the Port City Project, with amendments, which seemed obviously necessary for certain concessions were not in our national interest and have been removed, and that work will recommence soon.
With the growing importance of the Indian Ocean and our strategic location and the fact that hundreds of ships pass through the Indian Ocean there is no doubt that the harbour would be an absolutely successful venture and would transform the South. I do hope that China would continue to assist us with our infrastructure development but NOT on commercial terms, for as has been often stated, love cannot be bought; India should also be invited to join as a partner and Lanka should become the ‘Friendship Bridge’ between India and China.
