“Foreign Policy Perspectives after Covid-19,” is a book published by the Ambassadors’ Forum of Sri Lanka and launched at the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPASL).This endeavour is assisted by the OPASL and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) as an ongoing initiative for a series of foreign policy focused publications taking into account current challenges within the Covid-19 context and the present political dynamics in Sri Lanka.
Initiated and edited by Ambassador and lawyer, Sarath Wijesinghe, President’s Counsel, who had served as Ambassador to the UAE and Israel, and co-edited by Amila Wijesinghe, Barrister-at-Law, the book reflects the latest discourse on matters pertaining to international relations and diplomacy relevant primarilyto the Sri Lankan context in the backdrop of the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic. The book consists of 30 academic papers that cover the topic of strategic interest of Lanka to key international players, such as China, the US and India, written by some of the most eminent Sri Lankan personalities in the realm of academia, diplomacy, law and international strategic studies.
The intention of the book in general is to bring together a variety of Covid context applicable discourses (that is nevertheless relevant in any scenario to the macro considerations of a developing country). The subject matter is particularly focused on Sri Lanka, but could be also seen as applicable to South Asia, pondering on the many potentials and the risks as well as fears, caused by the current virus centered global situation. Rationality and caution co-exist with a reasonable amount of idealism, creativity and positive expectation, while keeping at bay the temptation to descend to the abyss of pessimism.
The book commences with two segments; chapter 1 and chapter 2, by Dr. Palitha Kohona, former Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2015 who had been elected as the chair of the UN GA sixth committee (legal) in 2013 and served as the Co-Chair of the UN Working Group of Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction as well as Chair of the UN Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Arab Territories.
Dr. Kohona in his first analysis titled Covid-19 – An unprecedented crisis, Also a Tantalising Opportunity, begins by quoting Henry Kissinger in what he describes as one of his ‘infrequent statements’ ; ‘When the Covi-19 pandemic is over, many countries’ institutions will be perceived as having failed. Whether this judgment is objectively fair is irrelevant. The reality is the world will never be the same after the coronavirus. To argue now about the past only makes it harder to do what has to be done.”
New landscape
Dr. Kohona begins by saying that a challenging new landscape beckons as underlined by Kissinger, and sets the base for the argument on how it could be an opportunity, noting that clever choices have to be made to wade through the major drama of our times. Referring first to how Covid-19 has bought America to its knees, Dr. Palitha Kohona recounts; “I spent 15years of my life in New York city, the throbbing heart of the American economy and the greased skate board of the world economy. But today it is eerily quiet,” referring to the virus steered situation around April this year, adding that even after 9/11, the city faltered but recovered its swagger rapidly unlike the Covid-19 crisis which has created an unmanageable crisis.He begins with the denial of the pandemic threat by the Trump administration and the subsequent and still ongoing attempt to reap political mileage at the expense of China. Dr. Kohona says; “One is tempted to suggest that if the US had taken pre-emptive action early instead of seeking to score political mileage by piling blame on China, many lives which are being lost now by the thousands could have been saved.”
He explains the positive and negative aspects of the virus monopolised world as played out in everyday life in general and economy in particular. He details the strange global phenomena of lockdowns, the metamorphosis of working from home, and the changing face of the Allopathic medical sphere as well as the education sector which is taking to remotely facilitated alternatives.
Unravelling the Sri Lankan context, he refers primarily to how the island nation has handled the pandemic. His analysis comes in the background of the stark contrast we are seeing in Sri Lanka as compared to the rest of the regional neighborhood; i.e. South Asia. While Sri Lanka is able to get on with everyday life almost as it were in pre-coronavirus days, its Covid-19 cases limited to the well managed quarantine centres, with continued and wide scale testing that controlled the community spread risks, and the recent cases almost only from those repatriated from overseas, the opposite is seen in neighbouring India and the rest of the SAARC region.
Dr. Kohona states that Sri Lanka has the potential to contribute its medical expertise to a pandemic riddled world in a similar manner as Cuba and China.
He says this expertise could be offered, especially in the event of potential future mass scale humanitarian initiatives along the lines of a special standby humanitarian force to deal with humanitarian emergencies (akin to the UN peace keeping force concept).
Dr. Kohona’s comments come in the backdrop of Sri Lanka exploring a strategy for post Covid-19 medical or health tourism, given that in May this year, when much of the virus reeling world could not handle its patients let alone foreigners, Sri Lanka in its usual hospitable style extended its medical expertise to Seychelles when it sent a group of citizens needing urgent medical care, especially for paid heart surgery and cancer treatments.
Obstacles to developing countries
Amid specifying many possibilities of rising up from the gloomy scenario caused by the coronavirus, several writers who have contributed to this book, including Dr. Kohona have raised the fact that Covid-19 will pose obstacles to developing countries. Dr. Kohona explains how countries, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Mauritius which heavily depend on the apparel sector for their foreign exchange are likely to suffer from the Covid-19 economic impact in the US and Europe as these territories are the main buyers, with 80 percent of Sri Lanka’s garment exports being sent to this part of the world.
Dr. Kohona, writing in the 2nd chapter of the book, Asia re-emerges as a dominant power in the world: Opportunity beckons Sri Lanka, brings attention to the rapid rise of Asia, once labeled as the poorest continent. He refers to the resultant disorientation of the West, now rapidly modifying their economic and trade concepts just as resurgent Asia is beginning to reap their benefits. Kohona makes this comment in the backdrop of Sri Lanka headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was elected President last November attempts to strategically position the country to reap economic advantage by especially seeking out ways to maximise opportunities offered by booming Asia.
Dr. Kohona explains how Asia was a powerful economy which in the early 1820s accounted for a two thirds of the world’s population, and more than 50 percent of the wealth produced globally, observing that the subsequent impoverishment of Asia could be attributed to many overlapping factors, including its forcible integration to a world economy on conditions determined by colonial and imperial priorities. He writes, “China, South Korea and Taiwan in East Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in South East Asia; Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in South Asia; and Turkey in West Asia, account for more than four fifths of the population and income of the continent. Japan, a high income country, was already industrialised 50 years ago.”
He details the steady economic growth of these countries and in reference to ASEAN, with its 600 million people and stated that it is surging ahead economically with a combined GDP of $2.8 trillion, making it a model as well as prospective economic partner to outsiders.
In the third chapter; A Critical Approach to Foreign Policy by President’s Counsel Mohan Peiris, who was the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka from 2013 to 2015, and the Attorney General from 2008 to 2011, discusses how the world has changed since the 1990s, bringing to light the ideological difference between Marxism and liberal definition of foreign policy. Delineating that there are multifarious definitions of foreign policy,he notes that the foreign policy of any State is restrained by the interest of other States and limited by the international environment.
Balancing relations
“A lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment and a tendency to be too ready to believe that a friendship is real or true, can be particularly fatal for the foreign policy of a small country, such as Sri Lanka,” Peiris stated, explaining the intricate nature of foreign policy involving geopolitical, economic and legal issues. He refers to the need to engage constructively with the United States while focusing on the difficult task of balancing relations with the other two world powers, China and India.
President’s Counsel Mohan Peiris in chapter 4, under the theme Necessity calls for Discretionary Power; Is it time for Constitutional Exceptionalism,had placed his arguments in the backdrop of Sri Lankans preparing for the August 5 General Election following the dissolution of parliament on March 2. The context pertains to the different views expressed on matters connected to the reconvening of Parliament amid the necessity to postpone the election due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In chapter 5, under the topic A legislative design to attract investors to the Port City and CIFC in the context of Covid-19, Ambassador Dayantha Laksiri Mendis, former UN Legal Expert and Legal Draftsman to several Caribbean and African countries, stresses the need to attract investors to the Port City and Colombo International Financial Centre (CIFC), taking into consideration the fears that it will end up as a ghost city (under the assumption that Lankans do not have the capacity and the know-how to deal with such a financial centre) and the opposite argument that this will never be so because there is a prime need for a financial centre in the Indian Ocean to serve South Asia. What the reader gets from his position is that there is the need to realise that a proactive and persistent approach and not just rhetoric, is needed by Sri Lankans to ensure that the Port City becomes a vibrant reality.
Offshore financial centres
He shows the need to compare the proposed Port City and the CIFC with other Port Cities and offshore financial centres in the world (although he admits that the Sri Lanka has not yet activated these establishments to merit a perfect comparison). He stated that in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are port cities and offshore financial centres; such as in Panama, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kittsand Nevis, explaining that the Bahamas, the Panama, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands stand out as successful offshore financial centres. Citing examples from Europe,he states that the outstanding port cities are Dublin, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Luxenbourg and Cyprus in relation to offshore banks and financial institutions which have played a catalytic role in the development of their economies, while adding that in the Middle East, Dubai’s Atlantic Port City stands out with its offshore financial centre.
He states, however, that the Dubai legislation may not be suitable for Sri Lanka. Concerning the Colombo Port City, he highlights that the design of the legislation relating to the CIFC is of paramount importance, with the overall objective of attracting international business companies, banks and trusts. He details that the Government needs to decide whether the Colombo Financial Centre should be a no-tax or low-tax regime and explains that unless there is a double tax treaty, that the developed countries will tax the beneficiaries.
Referring to the case of De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, one of the world’s best known diamond producers and sellers, where the management was done in London and therefore, had to pay tax on the profits made in the diamond sale in South Africa, Ambassador Mendis reiterates the many aspects a draft legislation should look into keeping in mind at the outset complications that may come up as operations proceed.
He notes in his conclusion that the proposed Colombo International Financial Services Authority should operate closely with the Central Bank, the Registrar of Companies, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Director General of Customs. He highlights that Foreign Direct Investment into the Port City must be determined by the Regulatory Authority in conjunction with the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka according to a master plan. In his recommendations, he emphasises that Sri Lanka should train local financial intermediaries, accountants and lawyers to equip them to deal with offshore financial services. It is also recommended that Sri Lanka’s Foreign Service personnel with communication skills be used to get international banks, high net worth persons and other investors to the offshore financial centres in the Port City.
In chapter 6, Ambassador Mendis, writing under the theme Has Sri Lanka neglected Latin America and the Caribbean?, gives an interesting overview of Latin America and the Caribbean, citing these two geographical areas as those neglected in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, academic research and scholarship. Although the focus in his writings is particular to relations between the Caribbean and Latin America as relevant to Sri Lanka, his explanations could be taken as useful to other South Asian countries as well. Emphasising that the Latin American and the Caribbean civilisations were in existence before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to that region and that hence the term ‘discovering’ these regions by Colombus is a myth, he states that the significance of this region cannot be fully understood without reference to the United States.
He throws light on the hegemonic policy pursued by the United States and the promulgation of the Monroe doctrine of 1823, the US involving itself in the internal affairs of these countries while being the driving force behind the economic expansion of this region through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and several aid programs.
He notes that the viability of mini states in the Caribbean is a major issue in the international agenda and that these states suffer tremendously in the global economy. The successful Caribbean experiment with off shore financial services is relevant to Sri Lanka, it is stated.
His analysis could be seen as an indication to other South Asian nations to consider correcting any neglect that has occurred in the foreign policy making with these two regions, as these provide avenue for export of manufactured goods from Sri Lanka (and possibly from other South Asian nations as well) although the author does not explicitly mention this as his priority of focus is his own country. In conclusion, he emphasises that trade representations should be vibrant in diplomatic missions of Sri Lanka aiming to work with these countries and questions as to why Caribbean states are served from the Sri Lankan embassy in Washington rather than Havana, Cuba which is the heart of the Caribbean.
NOTE: The review of this book will be continued in two more installments under themes US-Sri Lanka relations; 2020 and beyond and Managing systematic risks during pandemic- a Sri Lankan perspective, India China competition in wooing Sri Lanka in post pandemic context and thoughts on the MCC with the US, as analysed by the writers contributing to the book, will be among the discourses covered.