Strategic Autonomy And National Consensus
By N Sathiya Moorthy-Friday, July 03, 2015
It’s all in a nation’s heart, or so it seems. Suddenly, Sri Lanka seems to have adequate ‘strategic space’ to share with the American and Chinese ‘super-power’ rivals, on sea and/or land, but at the same time. News that an elite American SEALS team and a Chinese troops’ group are holding separate military exercises with counterparts, respectively, off the Trincomalee coast and at training institutions on-land, for about two weeks each, should come as a shock or surprise to many in the strategic community, nearer home and afar.
Going by media reports, this is the first time that the Americans are holding such exercises under the ‘Extended Relations Programme’ with Sri Lanka after a gap, an elaborate version having been conducted when Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga was President. From the Sri Lankan side, the exercise involves the elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and Fast Attack Craft (FAC) flotilla, which were either non-existent or were still in their infancy the last time round or so it seems.
