The Ceylon News

If the London Times reflects the general belief in the Western capitals why they cannot rein Sri Lanka in and get things done at the behest of the West , the answer of the former colonial masters is simply China.

The Times said , why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire is nothing else but China and the massive Hambantota harbour the island nation is building ten miles from one of the worlds busiest shipping routes at Hambantota with Chinese aid.

As if green with envy,the Times complained in a full page article by Jeremy Page, that China became Sri Lankas biggest arms supplier when London and Washington refused to sell arms to Sri Lanka , gave six F7 fighters free of charge , encouraged Pakistan to sell arms and trained pilots, blocked Western sponsored censure moves in UN Security Council , gave up to one billion US Dollars compared with the United States meagre $ 7.4 million and Britains 1.25 million as aid.

If not for China under the above gruelling circumstances , created by the West, the only other alternative left for Sri Lanka would have been to succumb to a Fascist dictator, and pave way for the separation of the country, a fact the article did not mention for obvious reasons.

To high light the point of the West the Times article also quoted , B.Raman, a former spy chief of the RAW who was heavily involved in arming , training and funding of the Tamil Tigers in the past. He was quoted having said, Thats why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism, for not agreeing for a ceasefire.

Following are extracts of the Times article:
On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the worlds busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.

This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line.

This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects Chinas supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West.

The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a string of pearls strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma. The strategy was outlined in a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher J. Pehrson, of the Pentagons Air Staff, in 2006, and again in a report by the US Joint Forces Command in November. For China, Hambantota is a commercial venture, but its also an asset for future use in a very strategic location,Major-General (Retd) Dipankar Banerjee of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Delhi said.

The British Navy used the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee as its main regional base until 1957 and still shares a naval base with the US on the nearby island of Diego Garcia. China has no immediate plans for a fully fledged naval base but wants a similar foothold in the Indian Ocean to protect its oil supplies from piracy or blockade by a foreign power, analysts say.

Beijing sent three ships on an unprecedented anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden in December, and in January a Chinese defence White Paper said that the navy was developing capabilities of conducting co-operation in distant waters . . .

China has cultivated ties with Sri Lanka for decades and became its biggest arms supplier in the 1990s, when India and Western governments refused to sell weapons to Colombo for use in the civil war. Beijing appears to have increased arms sales significantly to Sri Lanka since 2007, when the US suspended military aid over human rights issues.

Many of the arms have been bought through Lanka Logistics & Technologies, co-headed by Gotabhaya Rajapksa, the Defence Secretary, who is also the Presidents brother.(It is a fully state owned company) In April 2007 Sri Lanka signed a classified $37.6 million (25 million) deal to buy Chinese ammunition and ordnance for its army and navy, according to Janes Defence Weekly.

China gave Sri Lanka apparently free of charge six F7 jet fighters last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, after a daring raid by the Tigers air wing destroyed ten military aircraft in 2007. One of the Chinese fighters shot down one of the Tigers aircraft a year later.

Chinas arms sales have been the decisive factor in ending the military stalemate, Brahma Chellaney, of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, said. There seems to have been a deal linked to Hambantota. Since 2007 China has encouraged Pakistan to sell weapons to Sri Lanka and to train Sri Lankan pilots to fly the Chinese fighters, according to Indian security sources.

China has also provided crucial diplomatic support in the UN Security Council, blocking efforts to put Sri Lanka on the agenda. It has also boosted financial aid to Sri Lanka, even as Western countries have reduced their contributions.

Chinas aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost $1 billion last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain just 1.25 million.

Thats why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism, said B. Raman of the Chennai Centre for China Studies. It knows it can rely on support from China.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said the fight-to-finish military campaign against Tamil rebels was fast nearing its end and troops are gaining ground into the last rebel strongholds.

"The war with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is rapidly nearing its conclusion and it is my hope that this will create the space for democracy to flourish in the north again," Rajapaksa said in an address to the Colombo-based diplomatic community.

"At long last we are on the threshold of defeating terrorism and face a new era of lasting peace and security for all Sri Lankans," he said.

According to state figures, nearly 200,000 people have fled the war zone and come to the government-controlled areas since the beginning of this year.

They have been temporarily housed at refugee camps and welfare centres in the northern Vavuniya town.

Calling it the "greatest rescue operation in the world", Rajapaksa said that troops have carried out meticulous operations to rescue civilians from the LTTE in the northeastern Mullaitivu district since April 20.

"In my view, the urgent need of the hour is the sensitivity and understanding of the international community on ground realities," Rajapaksa said, asking the diplomats to exert "pressure on the LTTE to lay down arms and surrender".

The president said the government "is now facing the daunting task of providing security and needs of displaced persons who are now in the welfare villages".

"The government has mobilized all the relevant agencies and stakeholders who are working together to provide the basic needs of these innocent civilians," Rajapaksa said.

Earlier this week, the defence ministry had said that the troops have cornered the LTTE into a small strip of land and were now "surging in three frontal ground manoeuvres to rescue civilians held hostage by the LTTE at gunpoint".

According to defence authorities, troops making fresh advances have captured a part of the LTTE built earth bund in the early hours on Thursday following heavy confrontations.

They said that the bodies of LTTE cadres killed during the confrontations "were scattered ahead of the defence line" and they have recovered three rebel bodies Wednesday evening.

The rebels led by Velupillai Prabhakaran have been fighting to carve out a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka over the past quarter century.