Balancing foreign relations

SRI LANKA’S foreign policy is likely to be drawn into contention as two of its most important allies become more aggressive over territorial disputes.

It was reported by Reuters last week that India is stamping its own map on visas it issues to holders of new Chinese passports, which contain a map depicting disputed territory within China’s borders, the latest twist in tension in Asia over China’s territorial claims.

China’s new microchip-equipped passports contain a map that marks its claims over disputed waters and also show as its territory two Himalayan regions that India also claims.

The map means countries disputing the Chinese claims will have to stamp microchip-equipped passports of countless visitors, in effect acquiescing to the Chinese point of view. In response, India is issuing visas stamped with its own version of the borders, sources with knowledge of the dispute told Reuters.

China’s long-standing territorial disputes with Japan and Southeast Asian neighbours have grown heated in recent months. It reached a new pitch during the recent 21st Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit where Japan and the Philippines insisted that it would call for international help from the US and other players if it was in their national interest in territorial disputes with China. A situation that was further tensed with US President Barrack Obama offering to mediate between China and ASEAN members over simmering regional issues.  

On Thursday, the Philippines responded angrily to the new passports, saying Chinese carrying the document would be violating Philippine national sovereignty. India and China fought a brief, high-altitude border war in 1962 as readers would recall.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have held multiple rounds of talks to resolve their disputed Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh regions where they fought the war but have made little progress.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing that China has selected the maps as background on the inside pages of the passports issued by the Ministry of Public Security in May.

Hua had insisted that the design is not targeting a specific country and noted that China hopes that the relevant countries take a “rational and sensible attitude… to avoid causing interference with normal Sino-foreign personnel exchanges”.

With the taking over of new heads of state, China is expected to become more aggressive in its regional demands. Sri Lanka as a country that is strongly dependent on both India and China for its stance on the world stage would no doubt find it challenging to maintain neutrality amid these increasing tensions.

In addition, with the upcoming UN sessions in Geneva and developing internal issues such as the impeachment of the Chief Justice and the possible repeal or adjustment of the 13th Amendment, Sri Lanka will need its allies even more. However, balancing out the two powers as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government has been doing will become all the more difficult if China and India become more aggressive towards each other.

In such a background Sri Lanka will have to bush up its foreign engagement with other stakeholders of the international community and work towards implementing internal justice to find a stable platform to champion its causes from. It can only be hoped that such steps will be taken in advance so that Sri Lanka’s sovereignty will become stronger.