Mike Pompeo called Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over US-Sri Lankan relations
Colombo:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today called Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and discussed a range of bilateral issues including an economic partnership based on transparent trade and investment, COVID-19 as well as ” a shared commitment to democratic freedoms.
The senior US diplomat, who arrived in Sri Lanka from India on Tuesday for a two-day visit, will meet with the country’s top leaders as America seeks to balance China’s growing influence in the region and to advance the common goals for a freedom and opening up Indo-Pacific.
The President’s Media Division said Secretary Pompeo had met President Rajapaksa for talks.
In a tweet, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said Mike Pompeo met with the president to discuss an economic partnership based on transparent trade and investment, key elements of the post-pandemic economic recovery as well as a shared commitment to democratic freedoms.
Later, Pompeo had bilateral talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena, according to media reports in Colombo.
Discussions during Mike Pompeo’s visit will cover several areas of the multifaceted engagement between the two countries, according to the reports.
This is the high-level visit of an American dignitary to Sri Lanka during the tenure of US President Donald Trump.
Thank you for the warm welcome, @USAmbSLM. I am delighted to be here in Colombo. I am proud of the work @USEmbSL has done to strengthen our ties with government, business and people in Sri Lanka and look forward to expanding these efforts during my visit. #USwithSL, Secretary Pompeo said in a tweet.
Mr. Pompeo was in India with US Secretary of Defense Mark T Esper for the third edition of the US-India 2 + 2 Dialogue with their counterparts in New Delhi.
The US Secretary of State visited Sri Lanka at the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena. He is also expected to meet Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In talks with Mike Pompeo, Sri Lanka will stress its need to maintain the independence of its foreign policy, Minister of Regional Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry Tharaka Balasuriya said on Tuesday.
“He will be here to discuss bilateral and regional issues,” Balasuriya said.
Mike Pompeo will also visit St Anthony’s Church in northern Colombo, one of the churches devastated by the deadly Easter Sunday attacks last year.
“Secretary Pompeo will travel to Colombo to underscore the United States’ commitment to partnering with a strong and sovereign Sri Lanka and to advance our common goals for a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” said the US State Department in a statement. last week.
The Chinese military has flexed its muscles in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region and is also engaged in highly controversial territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS).
Earlier this month, India, the United States, Japan and Australia agreed to step up coordination to create a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Mike Pompeo’s visit is seen as part of the US effort to have Sri Lanka on its side against China.
Mike Pompeo’s visit to Lanka comes two weeks after a high-level Chinese delegation led by Yang Jiechi, a ruling Communist Party Politburo member, visited Colombo.
Just a day before Mike Pompeo’s visit to Colombo, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo accused the United States of meddling in China-Sri Lanka relations.
“We are strongly opposed to the United States taking the opportunity of the Secretary of State’s visit to seed and interfere in Sino-Sri Lankan relations, and to coerce and intimidate Sri Lanka,” said the embassy in a statement Monday.
He said China and Sri Lanka have enough wisdom to manage the relationship between them and don’t need a third party to dictate.
The statement hoped that the United States “will correct the ugly practices of arbitrary interference in the domestic and foreign affairs of other countries.”
China is one of the biggest investors in various infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka. But there has been criticism, both locally and internationally, and growing concerns that China has drawn Sri Lanka into a debt trap.
Maithripala Sirisena’s previous government entered into a 99-year lease with China in 2017 to settle its debt through equity.
Sri Lanka’s economy, especially the tourism sector, has been hit hard since last year – initially by the Easter Sunday attacks, which killed more than 250 people and later by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic .
In July this year, the Reserve Bank of India extended a USD 400 million currency exchange facility to Sri Lanka to increase the country’s foreign exchange reserves due to the coronavirus pandemic. The currency swap agreement will remain available until November 2022.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
