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CBK’s pro-French stance

11 Dec 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Former US Ambassador in Colombo Ashley Wills in 2003 had informed the State Department that President Chandrika Kumaratunga was ‘quite pro-French’, a latest WikiLeaks cable revealed.

The cable classified as ‘Confidential’ analyses the Sri Lanka’s pro-US foreign policy under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The cable was written on May 29, 2003 by US Ambassador E. Ashley Wills.

Ambassador Wills wrote: “In addition to the entrenched bureaucracy in the MFA, Wickremesinghe’s tilt toward the U.S. has also encountered sharp resistance from the president, her People’s Alliance (PA) party, and the radical Janantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party. While she is not anti-US per se, President Kumaratunga — who shares a very tense cohabitation relationship with the PM — is not particularly friendly to our international positions on issues as diverse as Iraq, climate change, the ICC, general North/South affairs, etc.”

“Kumaratunga’s stance seems to be strongly influenced by the fact that her parents, who were both prime ministers, were advocates of NAM-type thinking on the international stage. The president’s Sorbonne education also appears to have affected her and she is quite pro-French. As could be expected, the president’s PA party basically mirrors her perspectives. As for the leftist JVP, the party has always been strongly anti-U.S., accusing us routinely in public of being the arch-imperialist. Given that an alliance between a large section of the PA with the JVP is set to be announced soon, there is little indication that Opposition views of the U.S. will improve in the near-term,” Wills further said.

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CBK’s pro-French stance

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