China’s indifference to suffering in Sri Lanka
http://transcurrents.com/
This should come as no surprise for a government that views human life (especially non-Chinese life on distant shores) as ultimately expendable in the pursuit of resources, regional strategic influence, and, dare I say, global dominance.
The latest in a long line of ‘pragmatic’ foreign policy initiatives that have impacted directly on the lives and deaths of countless thousands in Darfur, Zimbabwe, and Burma (to name a few prominent examples), has now been revealed as the underlying cause of the Sri Lankan government’s defiance in the face of international calls for humanitarian restraint in dealing with the Tamils: they have Beijing’s backing and they know it.
On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.
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 China’s 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.
It certainly seems that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is firmly in Beijing’s pocket given the alacrity with which he’s appeasing his benefactor’s regional goals by pursuing what appears increasingly like a cleansing policy. The CCP’s mouthpiece China Daily has the gall to talk of the unfolding humanitarian crisis and UN efforts to allow aid to the affected region:
A top UN official pressed Sri Lankan leaders yesterday to let aid into the northeastern war zone, as the ruling party won a sweeping victory in an election seen as a referendum on its fight against ethnic Tamil rebels.
The government has pushed deep into the Tamil Tigers’ strongholds in the north in recent months, surrounding the beleaguered rebels and vowing to end the quarter-century war. But reports have grown of starvation and casualties among the tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting.
Well, isn’t that lovely! Beijing once again gives the appearance of having its finger on the humanitarian pulse while simultaneously applying enough pressure to squeeze the life out of thousands of suffering people.
Is there a whiff of hypocrisy about this recent wave of concern? This analysis certainly suggests as much:
None of this diplomatic posturing should be taken at face value. All of a sudden Washington has begun to express concern about the plight of tens of thousands of civilians caught in fighting as the Sri Lankan army closes in on the remaining pocket of territory held by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Until recently, however, the US has quietly backed President Rajapakse, the war and the military’s gross abuse of democratic rights. But as the army made rapid advances into the LTTE’s remaining territory from early January and the defeat of the LTTE appeared likely, the US made a tactical shift.
These matters are invariably more nuanced than their face value, but it doesn’t excuse China’s disregard for human rights in the way it pursues its global goals, which, thus far, have little connection with its self-proclaimed ‘peaceful rise’.
To summarise the latest transgression of morality then, Chinese support via its seat at the UN and growing clout as the world’s financier has enabled Sri Lanka to laugh in the face of international criticism, and to look forward to a positive outcome to the $1.9 billion IMF loan the government is seeking. China is effectively saying to Sri Lanka, “give us our naval base and we’ll counter criticism when you start killing an ethnic minority indiscriminately; finish the job and we’ll make sure you get the funds to clean up the mess.”
It all sounds alarmingly familiar. Because it is.
Update
The bloodbath continues. And China’s role in the unfolding slaughter becomes clearer.