10 August 2022 03:44 pm
The government's decision to postpone the arrival of the Chinese ship Yuan Wang 5 at Hambatota port, would have a negative impact on the long-term friendship between Sri Lanka and China, the Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation (ASLCSCC) said.
ASLCSCC President Indrananda Abeysekera said that our government should reveal the reason behind the change in the criteria that existed when Yuan Wang 5 was allowed to come to Hambantota port.
Yuan Wang 5 is a research and survey vessel. In 2013, Yuan Wang 3 berthed at Colombo Port.
The whole world has come to know that India has said that Yuan Wang 5 will have some impact on its maritime security, he said.
Our government should not entertain such disruptive external interventions when decisions have already been made in accordance with the relevant conventions and adhere to its foreign policy," he said.
"It is now known worldwide that India has said that Yuan Wang 5 will have some effect on its maritime security. Our government should not entertain such disruptive external interventions when decisions have already been made in accordance with the relevant conventions and adhere to its foreign policy," he said.
If another country opposes a decision of our country, it shows that it has no understanding of the world conventions and interferes in the internal affairs of another country. Abeysekera said this is clearly a violation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
"In the effort to solve the social and economic crisis that our country is facing, we see another country using geopolitics as a weapon and acting on dual-minded policies. China has been an honest and long-standing friend of Sri Lanka. ASLCSCC, as an organization for people-to-people friendship with China, strongly opposes any attempt to harm Sri Lanka-China friendship.
Therefore, the Sri Lankan government should take immediate steps to address the harmful situation that occurred by suspending the arrival of Yuan Wang 5 for the diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China and people-to-people friendship, Abeysekera added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)