Champika Ranawaka cautions against Sri Lanka becoming part of geopolitical counter-alliance
– United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka, speaking at a public discussion on his latest book, ‘Ekata Getuma’, cautioned that several geopolitical alliances had been formed across the region and warned that it would be dangerous if the MoU signed among the UAE, India and Sri Lanka turned out to be a stepping stone towards, or a counter-formation to, any of them.
Ranawaka, who has delved extensively into the evolution of power struggles in world history in his book written in Sinhala, referred to a number of such alliances, such as QUAD, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, involving the United States, India, Japan and Australia, and AUKUS, which is a security partnership among Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
He said another security partnership among Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had been formed in recent times under the name ‘Mecca Agreement’ as a counter-formation. Asserting that Sri Lanka should be cautious about these developments, he said it would be serious if the MoU among the UAE, India and Sri Lanka were heading towards such a formation to counter any of these alliances.
Like international relations scholars, he invoked the ‘Thucydides Trap’, a theory that explains how nine out of 12 struggles for world supremacy ended in wars to determine the winner. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping had referred to it during his bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.Detailing the reasons for authoring his book, he said he decided to write it following the collapse of global unity on health security during the pandemic and the eruption of the Russia-Ukraine war.”If that war prolongs until next year, it will have a bearing on countries like Sri Lanka in terms of increased wheat flour prices. Now the Strait of Hormuz is obstructed. It is a vital choke point. This is affecting Sri Lanka. I thought of educating the Sinhala masses,” he said.
