By Uditha Devapriya
The last week has been very busy for President Ranil Wickremesinghe. First he travelled to Cuba, in time for the G77 Plus China Heads of State Summit in Havana from September 15 to 16. Largely dismissed by the Western press, the Summit saw the participation of delegations from more than a hundred countries across the Global South. Speaking at the Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated the importance of South-South cooperation in light of developments like vaccine hoarding by rich countries. President Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, made use of the event to strengthen ties with Cuba.
Wickremesinghe’s next destination was New York, where attended the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly and made a speech on Thursday, September 21. On the sidelines he attended a number of events, including a Conference on Sustainable Development Goals, and met with several officials, including USAID Administrator Samantha Power. He also took part in a business roundtable discussion organized by the Business Council for International Understanding and the Sri Lankan Embassy in the US.
More crucially, he took part in a program, the 3rd Annual Indo-Pacific Islands Dialogue, which focused on island nations in the Indian Ocean. At the event, hosted jointly by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation Japan, he observed that such countries are reluctant to take sides in big power rivalries, especially in hotly contested oceans such as the Indo-Pacific. He contended that Sri Lanka does not wish to take sides or get embroiled in conflicts between superpowers, emphasizing that the island will only look up to its national interests. He argued that military outfits such as AUKUS have violated the rules-based setup of organizations like ASEAN.
Predictably, the Western press has taken to depicting Wickremesinghe’s comments as some kind of balancing act. Foreign Policy, for instance, describes his critique of Western military alliances and his rejection of claims that China is sending spy vessels to Sri Lanka as “music to China’s ears”, adding that “Wickremesinghe likely wanted to reassert his government’s neutral position by signaling that Colombo values its relations with Beijing as well.” This is reflective of how the Western foreign policy establishment has viewed his statements. In any case, it’s not just political and business initiatives that he has limited his engagements to in the city: he also met with Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs for Meta, and elaborated on the government’s controversial new anti-online hate speech initiatives.
In his speech on Thursday, President Wickremesinghe reflected on how he saved democracy last year by preventing a takeover of the parliament. False modesty aside, he also dwelt on the economic reforms he instituted and how these have gone a long way in “rebuilding trust and confidence between the people and the government.” The disconnect between the two of course remains back home, but at the General Assembly the President seemed content in saying that Sri Lankans “are already witnessing the positive outcomes of these measures in their daily lives.” He reiterated his belief, which may be the government’s belief, that global challenges require solutions beyond national borders, and noted the importance of working “in solidarity with the developing world” against issues like climate change.
These visits and speeches have taken place against the backdrop of simmering domestic tensions, instigated by a particularly inconvenient documentary on the Easter bombings. Yet by all accounts, on the foreign policy front, Ranil Wickremesinghe seems to have scored a hit or two. Feted by one world leader after another, he has depicted himself as a champion of small states and island nations, not to mention solidarity in the Global South. There remains a disconnect, however, between aspiration and reality. Wickremesinghe will no doubt reflect on these values when he addresses future forums in the West. But how practical are they for Sri Lanka, a small state pushed against its will into big power contests?
Wickremesinghe’s advocacy of multilateralism and his critique of Western military alliances is certainly a breath of fresh air. In contrast to his uncle, J. R. Jayewardene, he has made a case against Western intervention in the Global South. Without overpraising him, it must be acknowledged that no other Sri Lankan leader has articulated as clear and concise a critique of outfits like AUKUS and Quad as him. But the world of today is not the world of the 1980s. The vision for multilateralism the President touts himself as a champion of is more complex than the ideologies of the Cold War. Today, moreover, multilateralism means different things to different people. What vision of multilateralism should Sri Lanka embrace? One aligned with India’s concerns, or China’s? Ultimately it is Sri Lanka’s interests that should prevail. But in the longer term, the island will have to play a balancing act.
The Sri Lankan government and foreign policy establishment have, thus far, avoided this question. Admittedly, that question is not easy to answer, still less resolve. The flipside to multilateralism is that different countries and different groupings want to align it with their national interests. Hence India, while championing multipolarity at the recent G77 Summit, has refused to back a BRICS currency, partly because it wants to enthrone the rupee and partly because it does not wish to enthrone a unit of exchange within a bloc dominated by its arch-rival China. President Wickremesinghe may declare that Sri Lanka will not side with big powers in the region. But there are big power rivalries within the multilateral setup that he champions. How is Sri Lanka to navigate those waters?
It is this point that the Western press has picked up in its dismissals of the G77 Summit. Talking to the National Public Radio in the US, one correspondent observed that nothing concrete came out of the gathering, adding facetiously that “the most concrete thing… is that the G-77 plus China agreed to declare September 16 as the Day of Science, Technology and Innovation in the South.” India picked up this point as well when it called on member states to speak as one “without getting distracted by bilateral issues.” It is questionable to what extent India itself has abided by this principle. But the point is valid. Unless the Global South casts aside internal rivalries, there can be no hope for multipolarity.
Sri Lanka’s lunge towards multilateralism did not begin with Ranil Wickremesinghe, nor will it end with him. Over the last year or so he has presented himself as a champion not just of the Global South, but also of concerns specific to the Global South such as climate change. At COP27 he went as far as to fault industrialization in the West for the problems of climate change in developing countries. It is not fair to dismiss such sentiments. Yet they must also be put in perspective. At a time when the country’s assets, specifically State assets, are being auctioned off to everyone and anyone, it paradoxically might make sense to advocate these values, so as to attract the highest bidder. This is being somewhat cynical, to be sure. But it is in line with the Sri Lankan government’s priorities and reforms.
Uditha Devapriya is the Chief Analyst – International Relations at Factum and can be reached at uditha@factum.lk.
Factum is an Asia-Pacific focused think tank on International Relations, Tech Cooperation and Strategic Communications accessible via www.factum.lk.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the organization’s.
