Sri Lanka-China relations today are viewed differently in the Western and Northern Hemispheres, and often it is the 1952 Ceylon-China Rubber-Rice Pact that is taken into reference to paint part of the picture.

A recent research study, however, has recovered a newspaper article that discloses the full text of the speech made at the 1967 United Nations (UN) General Assembly by then Ceylon’s Permanent Representative H.S. Amerasinghe.

Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe’s name may not have been heard by many today, but for those associated with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it is a name to be venerated.

Amerasinghe, as Ceylon’s Permanent Representative to the UN, chaired the third UNCLOS session to help the world reach an agreement on the oceans. And today, the offspring of this convention still continue to govern the oceans by way of a newly introduced ‘High Seas Treaty,’ officially known as the BBNJ. But how much Sri Lankans know about this top diplomat, and the personality, remains a question.

The writer, during one of his research studies into this great personality’s role in the UNCLOS sessions, came across a unique newspaper article dated 15 December 1967 in the Ceylon Daily News, which is reproduced here for this island nation to come to know about our portion of history and how strongly we represented global bodies through great personalities of the stature of Amerasinghe.

What is noticeable in his dealings with the world’s leadership is how he interacted with global leaders from Henry Kissinger to Kurt Waldheim, thereby having a personal connectivity in handling global matters of concern. Apparently, he had the voice within the corridors of power, and his influence mattered on the global stage. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka has not been able to maintain that level of influence on the global stage ever since.

Amerasinghe’s statement on China

The article is his full statement at the UN General Assembly in 1967 on the need for accepting the People’s Republic of China into the United Nations. Although China was among the founding member countries in 1945, it was not able to be accepted into the UN until 25 October 1971 due to Taiwan (Republic of China) claiming to represent Mainland China. 

In this statement, Amerasinghe, as Ceylon’s Permanent Representative, delivered a powerful message that needs to be studied more specifically by today’s Foreign Service officers to understand the value of history in order to deal with the future.

The writer wishes to highlight the following three paragraphs (in fact, all paragraphs of this statement matter as they all gradually build up the logic for why a decision is necessary and matters) to demonstrate the kind of statesmanship this island nation’s forefathers held in expressing what is right and correct within the global order. 

The first paragraph is quoted as follows: “They were not prepared to accept the reality and truth of the revolution that brought into being the People’s Republic of China and which drove the former ruler of China to seek refuge on an offshore island, part of the territory of the Government of China which he converted into a fortress with the aid of a mighty power with the declared purpose of regaining control of his former territory.”

The second paragraph the writer wishes to highlight is as follows: “A nation of 700 million people cannot be expected to subject itself to such a humiliation. There would be nothing left of the dignity and self-respect of the people of Asia if they allowed themselves to be a party to such a settlement.”

Amerasinghe, in his address, said that for the last 16 years (this statement was made in 1967), the UN had been debating the acceptance of the People’s Republic of China and concluded his statement with the following: “In conclusion, I should like to observe that we might move more speedily towards a solution of this problem if we woke up to the realisation of the fact that it is not the People’s Republic of China that needs the United Nations but rather the United Nations that needs the People’s Republic of China.”

A lost power 

When this statement was delivered at the UN in 1967, Ceylon had a United National Party (UNP)-led Government of Dudley Senanayake, whereas by the time China was accepted to the UN in 1971, it was a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led Sirimavo Bandaranaike Government. 

What is noticeable is that Ceylon at the time maintained its stance with regard to the People’s Republic of China throughout, despite the changes in political regimes, and it was the strong and reputed Ceylon Foreign Service that dictated foreign relations, not the political agenda.

However, the writer’s research points out how all these started to change with the 1977 J.R. Jayewardene Government, where political agendas came to the forefront, leading to the gradual eviction of Foreign Service officials of Amerasinghe’s stature and their replacement by incompetent Government representatives. 

It was rather revealing to note during this research study based on archived documents that, contrary to the prevailing understanding, it was during Jayewardene’s time that Sri Lanka’s Foreign Service started to become increasingly politicised, with professional diplomatic corps being replaced by political appointees in places like the UN, where, once ‘power’ is lost, there is no regaining it.

I feel that this historic article is a must-read for today’s Foreign Service and those charged with practising Sri Lanka’s statecraft to realise how the State asserts its interests and strategically communicates them, and what this means for the entire Asian region. 

The writer wishes to further indicate that, in that era, no other state parties had such recorded verbal expressions in global affairs. As Sri Lankans, we should take immense pride in the calibre of officials we produced and the manner in which they behaved in the global arena. 

Building personalities of the stature of Amerasinghe is a long and committed process, and it appears that Ceylon, and later Sri Lanka, once had many personalities of that stature dominating global forums, only to eventually lose that influence. 

(The writer is the former Chief Hydrographer/Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy, who post-retirement writes on the maritime environment and analyses regional developments in maritime and geostrategic scope. He remains an International Consultant for undersea cables and maritime intelligence)

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)