Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

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Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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INTERNATIONAL FRAME &
STRUGGLE for Tamil Eelam: china

China - Sri Lanka's Biggest Aid Donor

IANS, Hindustan Times, 2 May 2009

 "The Sri Lankan government has been able to disregard international concern over its civil war with Tamils because of financial and military backing by China, a senior former Indian intelligence official was quoted saying on Saturday.  The Times newspaper said China has replaced Japan as Sri Lanka's biggest foreign donor giving the island-nation nearly a billion US dollars last yearBy comparison, the US gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain 1.25 million pounds. " more

Comment by tamilnation.org  It will not come as a matter for surprise to many Tamils that the UK based Times and the India based Hindustan Times should put the cart before the horse.  'International concern' is about securing the international community's own strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region  - strategic interests which have been threatened by the China ward tilt by  President Rajapaksa's murderous regime. And that is why there is  'international concern' about 'the civil war with Tamils'. The concern is that with Tamil resistance annihilated,  President Rajapaksa will help embed Chinese interests in the island for the forseeable future." We said it two years ago in International Dimensions of Conflict in the Island of Sri Lanka, Nadesan Satyendra, 2 October 2007

"...the denial by international actors of their conflicting strategic interests in Sri Lanka draws a veil over the real issues that any meaningful conflict resolution process in the island will need to address. We cannot ostrich like bury our collective heads in the sand - and, to mix the metaphor, ignore the elephant in the room. Whilst the goal of securing peace through justice is loudly proclaimed by the international actors, real politick leads them to deny the justice of the Tamil Eelam struggle for freedom from alien Sinhala rule. The harsh reality is that on the one hand international actors are concerned to use the opportunity of the conflict in the island to advance each of their own strategic interests - and on the other hand, Sri Lanka seeks to use the political space created by the geo strategic triangle of US-India-China in the Indian Ocean region, to buy the support of all three  for the continued rule of the people of Tamil Eelam by a permanent Sinhala majority within the confines of  one state. The record shows that Sinhala Sri Lanka seeks to engage in a 'balance of power' exercise of its own by handing over parts of the island (and the surrounding seas) to India, US and China. We have India in the Trincomalee oil farm, at the same time we have a Chinese coal powered energy plant in Trincomalee; we have a Chinese project for the Hambantota port, at the same time we have the attempted naval exercises with the US from Hambantota (to contain Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean); we have the grant of preferred licenses to India for exploration of oil in the Mannar seas, at the same time we have a similar grant to China and a 'road show' for  tenders from US and UK based multinational corporations;  meanwhile we have the continued presence of the Voice of America installations in the island and the  ten year Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) was signed by the United States and Sri Lanka on 5 March 2007.  It will not be a matter for surprise if the US has found Sri Lanka's attempt to engage in a 'balance of power' exercise of its own somewhat irritating - and has cautioned Sri Lanka privately that Sri Lanka was not a super power and should not try to behave like one." ]


IANS, Hindustan Times, 2 May 2009

The Sri Lankan government has been able to disregard international concern over its civil war with Tamils because of financial and military backing by China, a senior former Indian intelligence official was quoted saying on Saturday.  The Times newspaper said China has replaced Japan as Sri Lanka's biggest foreign donor giving the island-nation nearly a billion US dollars last year.  By comparison, the US gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain 1.25 million pounds.

"That's why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism," B. Raman of the Chennai Centre for China Studies, a former additional secretary in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency.  "It knows it can rely on support from China," he added.

The Times said strategic experts believe a billion dollar commercial port that the Chinese are building in the southern Sri Lankan town of Hambantota will eventually become a base for its navy.

Hambantota Port


"Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the [port construction] 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," the paper reported.

"China has cultivated ties with Sri Lanka for decades and became its biggest arms supplier in the 1990s, when India and Western governments refused to sell weapons to Colombo for use in the civil war. Beijing appears to have increased arms sales significantly to Sri Lanka since 2007, when the US suspended military aid over human rights issues," it paper said.

The Times said many US and Indian military planners regard the port as part of a "string of pearls" strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Myanmar.

The strategy was outlined in a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher J. Pehrson, of the Pentagon's Air Staff, in 2006, and again in a report by the US Joint Forces Command in November.


Stepping in after India's insistence on selling only defensive weapons to Sri Lanka, the Chinese gave six F7 fighter aircraft to Sri Lanka last year - apparently free of charge. The paper quoted unnamed Indian security sources as saying China has encouraged Pakistan to sell weapons to Sri Lanka and to train Sri Lankan pilots to fly the Chinese fighters.


 Comment by tamilnation.org  On 'India's insistence on selling only defensive weapons to Sri Lanka' see...  

1. Both India and Pakistan Trained us to Fight LTTE says Brigadier Udaya Nanayakara, Sri Lanka Army Spokesman 29 April 2009 �We send our officers regularly to India and Pakistan for specialised training. I did four courses in India and three in Pakistan. The last time, I trained in Secunderabad�. He said Lankan forces have been procuring the latest technology from both countries. �We know they are rivals but we have nothing to do with that. We have benefited from both India and Pakistan,�..We have been procuring equipment from China as well. We wanted equipment and would pay later, China agreed. It was mostly ammunition and we have already paid for it.... ...the Americans too helped with the training. But they have trained very few, and only officers. Majority of our men are trained by India and Pakistan."

2. LTTE Spokesman Yogi, Pulikalinkuralukku Valangkiya Nerkanal from Tamil Eelam , 24 April 2009 - "The war carried out by Sri Lanka was with the cooperation of the United States, Great Britain, Norway and Japan amongst others and in particular with India's support, blessings and military training. It was a war carried out by Sri Lanka  jointly with these big powers... "

 

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