Foreign relations reach a new high under President Mahinda Rajapaksa By Manjula Fernando President Mahinda Rajapaksa's foreign policy which won him many friends in all geographical blocs has so far given the country enormous strength to win over the LTTE battle which has now shifted to the global arena Sri Lanka’s foreign policy under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has been robust, dignified and self-asserting. But it has always been open for dialogue and interaction with the international community during the difficult phases. This was amply manifested by a comment External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris made at a press conference at the Ministry on November 1, wrapping up the highly successful Perth CHOGM visit. “We are no more a colony. We are an independent state. We will not take ultimatums by any foreign state,” he said when a question was posed at him by a member of the media on comments made by British PM David Cameron that Sri Lanka will be expected to show progress before the 2013 CHOGM in Colombo. He said the Perth CHOGM visit where the 54 nation body unanimously decided on Colombo as the 2013 CHOGM venue, and where a litigation by an LTTE sympathiser, a publicity stunt, was quashed by the Australian Attorney General and an attempt to drag domestic issues of Sri Lanka by the Canadian PM was defeated - could serve as a showpiece of the country’s outstanding foreign policy not withstanding criticism to emphasise that Sri Lanka was a black sheep in the pack or it is on a collision course with the Western world. None other than the Australian PM, Julia Gillard announced that there were no plans to relocate the CHOGM 2013, venue despite do-or-die efforts by vested interests to defame Sri Lanka, with their campaign starting even before the CHOGM curtain raiser. According to Prof. Peiris 15 countries spoke on behalf of Sri Lanka at the CHOGM meeting and ultimately it became unanimous that the venue should be Colombo as previously decided. International front After the defeat of one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations in the world, from the shores of Sri Lanka, wiping out its highly feared military wing and all the key leaders including its supreme leader Prabhakaran, Sri Lanka’s battle had shifted ground. The LTTE with many faces now operate from the international front through a highly oiled propaganda mill. The time-to-time calls for war crimes probes and sanctions on Lanka is the work of this lot. The rich LTTE coffers fat with black money raised through international crime has got the Western power-hungry politicians with bigger Tamil vote bases to sound the sirens on behalf of them. And Sri Lanka had to face the brunt of these actions in many international fora. From the UNHRC in Geneva and UNGA in New York to CHOGM in Perth – Western Australia. But Sri Lanka’s true friends who were reaped by its unique foreign policy have helped defeat all such attempts in the past. Fearless and unbending President Rajapaksa had been courteous, but at the same time fearless and unbending in the face of the international community. Sri Lanka, which had been a voiceless state in the past which had to bow down to the West’s unfair calls asserted its own right pl ace following the appointment of President Rajapaksa as the President in 2005. His foreign policy which won him many friends in all geographical blocs has so far given the country enormous strength to win over the LTTE battle which has now shifted to the global arena. President Rajapaksa expanded relations with Cuba, Iran, Myanmar and Vietnam. His critics were silenced when such relations began to bring in positive results. Iran came forward with help during the oil crisis and has assisted us enormously in the power and irrigation sectors. Under the President’s leadership Sri Lanka braced international pressure during the height of the humanitarian operation with great composure and without a flinch stood up to face the allegations leveled against the country and redeem its good name. Diplomatic war Our diplomatic war, in the post-conflict era, paid dividends when a number of countries including Belgium, Croatia, Italy, UK, Korea and Japan positively revised their travel advisories on Sri Lanka. The US travel advisory was lifted in May 2010. On the Asian front he was precise in balancing relations with the regional powers, India, Pakistan, China and Russia. During the height of the conflict, China and Pakistan, as long-standing allies of Sri Lanka did their best not to let our armories run dry, thus helping our Forces to continue to maintain their dominance in the battlefield. Sri Lanka’s relations with India have strengthened by leaps and bounds after President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power. President Rajapaksa has made several high-profile visits to India during the last five years and held productive discussions with Indian leaders.He was an honored guest at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, an honuor accorded to only a select few leaders of the Commonwealth. He has kept New Delhi apprised of the latest post-conflict developments in Sri Lanka and India has pledged extensive assistance for the process of resettlement and rehabilitation in the island’s North. The Ministry of External Affairs has been working pro-actively to implement the foreign policy objectives as elaborated in the Mahinda Chinthana (the election manifesto) and the other directive principles of the Government, by contributing to the national security of Sri Lanka and the Government’s ambitious economic development plan. UN peacekeepers Notwithstanding the war crimes allegations leveled against Sri Lankan Forces, the country has been a regular contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, which attests to the high standards of discipline maintained by the Forces. Although the critics bad mouthed Mahinda - foreign policy, the actions say a different story all together. In curtailing LTTE activities overseas the contribution made by the Western bloc is second to none and highly impressive. There have been arrests of LTTE operatives in the recent past in Canada, US, UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Malaysia, Thailand and Germany. Most of these suspects were convicted and jailed for working on behalf of the LTTE, a designated terrorist group in most places. This was long after the conflict ended in Sri Lanka in May 2009. The counter LTTE activities supported by foreign law enforcing authorities continue to-date unabated. Sri Lanka did not bow down to the European Union’s unacceptable and intrusive conditions and instead reassured its industries that the Government will not let down even if the GSP plus concessions were not renewed by the EU. The US GSP concessions which were temporarily halted, were reactivated and Sri Lanka will have this benefit till 2013. Although defeated as a military outfit, the LTTE’s overseas infrastructure remains almost intact with assets such as a highly sophisticated international communication network, working overtime to establish a ‘transnational government’ of ‘Tamil Eelam’. These LTTE operatives’ latest ploy is to brand Sri Lanka as a ‘war criminal’ and harness support from sympathetic groups and nations to help establish its dream homeland that could not be achieved through 30 years of bloodshed. Sri Lanka’s foreign policy will be a key factor in defeating this new threat of LTTE on the global front.