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| Sunday, 10 April 2005 |
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'Our people oppose separation' by M. P. Muttiah
Chinese Ambassador Sun Guo xiang says the visit of Premier Wen Jiabo has enhanced further the friendly relations between Sri Lanka and China. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer, he said these relations have withstood the test of time. Chinese people would never forget that in 1952, the Sri Lankan government daringly signed the trade agreement on rice and rubber with China in defiance of western pressure, lending a hand to the Chinese people who were in great difficulty. "Sri Lanka and China have always maintained good neighbourly relations for more than 2000 years. These relations are based on five principles of Peaceful Co-existence. They have exchanged frequent high-level visits and have had effective and fruitful cooperation in political,economic and other areas and maintained contacts and held similar views on international and regional issues. The visit of our Premier at the invitation of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has further strengthened the ties and cooperation between the two countries. Both leaders have discussed on how to enhance political relations as well as economic and other relations. Several documents, especially economic ones, were signed," the Chinese Ambassador added. Answering a question on the Chinese view of the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, the Ambassador said that there was a peace process going on, and China had always supported the people of Sri Lanka and hoped that the crisis would be solved by Sri Lankans themselves amicably. "China is the biggest developing country and its entry into the World Trade Organisation would be beneficial not only to China but also other developing countries including Sri Lanka. In international relations peace and development are the main trends.Therefore, China would be able to work closely with other developing countries to make the world order more equitable," said the Ambassador. He said that the recent visit of Chinese top leaders to Latin American countries, such as Venezuela and Argentina, has helped strengthen peace and development. He added that China was always willing to maintain friendly relations with Latin American countries. Ambassador Sun Guo xiang said the arms embargo imposed on China was political discrimination in state-to-state relations between China and European countries. Therefore, the embargo should be lifted and normal relations must be established between Europe and China. Commenting on the Anti-Cessation Law that was passed by the National People's Congress, the Chinese Ambassador said these laws meant the peaceful re-unification of Taiwan with the mainland. It had initiated the development of people-to-people contact. No country would allow its territory to be partitioned. ``Our people are against division and would oppose any attempt of separation. Sri Lanka too issued a statement in support of this law which was highly appreciated in China, the Ambassador said. Answering a question on how the one country-two systems worked in Hong Kong, the Chinese Ambassador said that in 1997 there were doubts among foreign countries on the existence and operation of this method. However, now the system worked well and the people of Hong Kong enjoyed the benefits. When asked about the geo-political significance of the recent tour of Chinese Premier to South Asian countries, the Ambassador said that Chinese foreign policy was built on the independent foreign policy of peace and its bilateral relations had not been targeted against any third country. China wanted to see South Asia as a peaceful region. ``China wants the relations between India and Pakistan improved because it would be beneficial to the people in the region," he added. Appraising the present position on the relations between India and China the Ambassador said: "Both these countries are developing ones and have a population of more than 2.03 billion. In 1950s both countries were brothers, but we had some difficult times. 'Now that has become past history. Our problems, our tasks and challenges are almost the same. Both countries strive to develop the economy to improve the living standards of their people. We should develop our political relations, economy and later resolve other issues." Commenting on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, the Chinese Ambassador said that times had changed and reform was necessary. Representation of developing countries in the Security Council is not enough. This should be rectified. But any reform should be based on consensus, democracy and transparency, the Chinese Ambassador added. |
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