China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to recreate a modern version of the ancient trade route known as the Silk Route from the East to the West, has been mired in controversy from the minute the plan was unveiled back in 2013. The scope and scale of the project, encompassing half of the planet was and still is, mind boggling, earning both the wrath and envy of a jittery West that has grown suspicious of China’s not-so-secretive ambition to dominate global trade and security.
Long used to calling the shots in the majority of the 70-odd countries and organisations that form the envisaged Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) covering strategic land and sea routes, the West, in the more recent past, has been embroiled in a game of cat-and-mouse to maintain the status quo. But over two decades of unprecedented, double-digit growth has made Chinese coffers overflow with cash, and it is this cash that Chinese President Xi Jinping is pumping in to what has now become his signature global infrastructure development project, even though many of us living today may not be around to see its completion in 2049.
Although China initially used its immense financial clout to coerce governments and organisations to sign up to the BRI by handing out mega loans, once roped in, it has not hesitated to assert its influence over them in other ways, using both soft as well as hard power to acquire strategic assets that countries simply could not afford to pay for, pushing governments across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to capitulate to its expansionist agenda.
Sri Lanka, which forms a strategic hub in the BRI, has not been spared, having been pushed against the wall to make hard choices owing to its own financial woes brought about by a short-sighted, domestic-focused political culture, resulting it the unenviable prospect of governments having to depend on foreign funding in exchange for various assets. Whichever way it may be sugar-coated, this is the reality.
Continuing in that vein, there is no way that the current Opposition in Parliament could oppose the new Port City in toto, having themselves cosied up to Beijing to remodel it into a financial city during the period 2015-2019. No lesser a person than the former Prime Minister admitted to this fact in a special statement last Thursday. That statement was quickly followed by an announcement from the Chinese Embassy that the country’s Defence Minister will be visiting Colombo next week, in what appears to be a sign of upping the ante on the power games to drive the legislation through Parliament.
Being that as it may, the bone of contention of both the former Prime Minister and current Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, is that the draft presented to and approved by the current Cabinet is vastly different to the one that they approved while in Government. The allegation is that sensitive clauses pertaining to governance of the new landmass have been altered and re-drafted, in favour of an all-powerful management commission that will be vested with the required legislative authority to govern the new city.
The question being asked by the man on the street is, why the secrecy and urgency – if, as the Government says, there is nothing to worry about? The Government has not done itself any favours by allowing that legitimate concern to be further compounded by its unwillingness to sit at the table with at least the main parties represented in Parliament in order to gain some level of consensus, which at the end of the day, will offer greater comfort and assurance to prospective investors. It would be the right thing to do, given that the tenure of the lease extends for a period of 99 years – while the mandate of any government is limited to five years.
There is also the question of whether the cart is being put before the horse. For all intents and purposes, this new landmass needs to be first incorporated in the Constitution of the country by specifying its characteristics and the local authorities under which it should operate. This is for the primary purpose of carving out an electoral ward within the Colombo District so that it receives parliamentary representation.
In the absence of such legislation, it can only be assumed that the area will fall under the ambit of the Western Provincial Council and through extension, the Colombo Municipal Council, none of which is still in black and white. Therefore, the question arises whether this legal lacuna is more by design than default. Further, in the absence of such legislation, it can be argued that the Port City does not fall under the writ of the Government of Sri Lanka, and this ambiguity can potentially harm investor confidence.
Adding fuel to the fire in Hulftsdorp has been the learned counsel for one of the intervening petitioners in the legal challenge against the draft Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill. President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva, making his submissions before the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, is reported to have questioned the propriety of inquiring into Chinese investment in the Port City while being within the confines of a building gifted to Sri Lanka by China. Taking the sublime to the ridiculous, it can therefore be argued that the scrapping of the Japanese-funded Light Railway Project should not have been done from the Parliament building, which was a gift from Japan, or for that matter, the news of that should not have been aired on state-run Rupavahini, which again was an outright gift from Japan.
And then came the bombshell. De Silva contended that a non-national could be appointed as a judge of the apex court, and even as the Chief Justice. He stated that other than the Urban Development Authority, which had a specific clause barring foreign nationals from being appointed to its board of directors, there was no bar for foreign nationals to be appointed to any other statutory board in the country – thereby exposing a serious legal lacuna.
The counsel however reassured the bench that there was no need for concern with regard to such appointments, since the appointing authority was the President, who was elected directly by the people.
This prompted a cynical retort by way of a tweet from TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran, a long-time campaigner for foreign judges on judicial panels, especially those inquiring into human rights abuses. He tweeted: “We always maintained that it was NOT unconstitutional to have foreign judges in SL. Now #PodujanaParty agrees with us…!”
The assertion in the Supreme Court, coming from a legal luminary representing the topmost administrative official in the Government, must surely have raised a few eyebrows in Geneva, just a month after the UN Human Rights Council adopted its resolution against Sri Lanka. The UN body has been consistently pushing for foreign judges to hear human rights cases.
The contentious submission came in the wake of growing protests over the draft provision that members of the proposed Port City Economic Commission need not be Sri Lankan nationals, thereby paving the way for non-nationals to sit on the commission, which according to the draft, should have a minimum of five and a maximum of seven members. De Silva later explained that should any citizen feel that an appointed member of the commission is not suitable to hold such position, that citizen has the right to initiate due judicial process against the appointment, stating that the new city fell under the ambit of the law in Sri Lanka.
The bottom line is that in today’s world, there is no such thing as a free lunch. It is therefore naïve to assume that continuous financial assistance would be made available by an entity without any strings attached. While being aware of this reality, the primary concern of the people of this country is that their interests should not be overshadowed by those bearing gifts.
If only it was that simple! Tightening the belt
25 Apr 2021
Tightening the belt
25 Apr 2021
China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to recreate a modern version of the ancient trade route known as the Silk Route from the East to the West, has been mired in controversy from the minute the plan was unveiled back in 2013. The scope and scale of the project, encompassing half of the planet was and still is, mind boggling, earning both the wrath and envy of a jittery West that has grown suspicious of China’s not-so-secretive ambition to dominate global trade and security.
Long used to calling the shots in the majority of the 70-odd countries and organisations that form the envisaged Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) covering strategic land and sea routes, the West, in the more recent past, has been embroiled in a game of cat-and-mouse to maintain the status quo. But over two decades of unprecedented, double-digit growth has made Chinese coffers overflow with cash, and it is this cash that Chinese President Xi Jinping is pumping in to what has now become his signature global infrastructure development project, even though many of us living today may not be around to see its completion in 2049.
Although China initially used its immense financial clout to coerce governments and organisations to sign up to the BRI by handing out mega loans, once roped in, it has not hesitated to assert its influence over them in other ways, using both soft as well as hard power to acquire strategic assets that countries simply could not afford to pay for, pushing governments across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to capitulate to its expansionist agenda.
Sri Lanka, which forms a strategic hub in the BRI, has not been spared, having been pushed against the wall to make hard choices owing to its own financial woes brought about by a short-sighted, domestic-focused political culture, resulting it the unenviable prospect of governments having to depend on foreign funding in exchange for various assets. Whichever way it may be sugar-coated, this is the reality.
Continuing in that vein, there is no way that the current Opposition in Parliament could oppose the new Port City in toto, having themselves cosied up to Beijing to remodel it into a financial city during the period 2015-2019. No lesser a person than the former Prime Minister admitted to this fact in a special statement last Thursday. That statement was quickly followed by an announcement from the Chinese Embassy that the country’s Defence Minister will be visiting Colombo next week, in what appears to be a sign of upping the ante on the power games to drive the legislation through Parliament.
Being that as it may, the bone of contention of both the former Prime Minister and current Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, is that the draft presented to and approved by the current Cabinet is vastly different to the one that they approved while in Government. The allegation is that sensitive clauses pertaining to governance of the new landmass have been altered and re-drafted, in favour of an all-powerful management commission that will be vested with the required legislative authority to govern the new city.
The question being asked by the man on the street is, why the secrecy and urgency – if, as the Government says, there is nothing to worry about? The Government has not done itself any favours by allowing that legitimate concern to be further compounded by its unwillingness to sit at the table with at least the main parties represented in Parliament in order to gain some level of consensus, which at the end of the day, will offer greater comfort and assurance to prospective investors. It would be the right thing to do, given that the tenure of the lease extends for a period of 99 years – while the mandate of any government is limited to five years.
There is also the question of whether the cart is being put before the horse. For all intents and purposes, this new landmass needs to be first incorporated in the Constitution of the country by specifying its characteristics and the local authorities under which it should operate. This is for the primary purpose of carving out an electoral ward within the Colombo District so that it receives parliamentary representation.
In the absence of such legislation, it can only be assumed that the area will fall under the ambit of the Western Provincial Council and through extension, the Colombo Municipal Council, none of which is still in black and white. Therefore, the question arises whether this legal lacuna is more by design than default. Further, in the absence of such legislation, it can be argued that the Port City does not fall under the writ of the Government of Sri Lanka, and this ambiguity can potentially harm investor confidence.
Adding fuel to the fire in Hulftsdorp has been the learned counsel for one of the intervening petitioners in the legal challenge against the draft Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill. President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva, making his submissions before the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, is reported to have questioned the propriety of inquiring into Chinese investment in the Port City while being within the confines of a building gifted to Sri Lanka by China. Taking the sublime to the ridiculous, it can therefore be argued that the scrapping of the Japanese-funded Light Railway Project should not have been done from the Parliament building, which was a gift from Japan, or for that matter, the news of that should not have been aired on state-run Rupavahini, which again was an outright gift from Japan.
And then came the bombshell. De Silva contended that a non-national could be appointed as a judge of the apex court, and even as the Chief Justice. He stated that other than the Urban Development Authority, which had a specific clause barring foreign nationals from being appointed to its board of directors, there was no bar for foreign nationals to be appointed to any other statutory board in the country – thereby exposing a serious legal lacuna.
The counsel however reassured the bench that there was no need for concern with regard to such appointments, since the appointing authority was the President, who was elected directly by the people.
This prompted a cynical retort by way of a tweet from TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran, a long-time campaigner for foreign judges on judicial panels, especially those inquiring into human rights abuses. He tweeted: “We always maintained that it was NOT unconstitutional to have foreign judges in SL. Now #PodujanaParty agrees with us…!”
The assertion in the Supreme Court, coming from a legal luminary representing the topmost administrative official in the Government, must surely have raised a few eyebrows in Geneva, just a month after the UN Human Rights Council adopted its resolution against Sri Lanka. The UN body has been consistently pushing for foreign judges to hear human rights cases.
The contentious submission came in the wake of growing protests over the draft provision that members of the proposed Port City Economic Commission need not be Sri Lankan nationals, thereby paving the way for non-nationals to sit on the commission, which according to the draft, should have a minimum of five and a maximum of seven members. De Silva later explained that should any citizen feel that an appointed member of the commission is not suitable to hold such position, that citizen has the right to initiate due judicial process against the appointment, stating that the new city fell under the ambit of the law in Sri Lanka.
The bottom line is that in today’s world, there is no such thing as a free lunch. It is therefore naïve to assume that continuous financial assistance would be made available by an entity without any strings attached. While being aware of this reality, the primary concern of the people of this country is that their interests should not be overshadowed by those bearing gifts.
If only it was that simple! Kapruka
Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!
Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!