One of the main reasons President Ranil invited the Iranian President to come to Sri Lanka was to win the Muslim voters in the presidential election. He was looking for PR tactics for this. Ranil’s media unit translated the conversation between him and the Palestinian Foreign Minister at the South Summit in Uganda on the establishment of a Palestinian state into Sinhala and spread it throughout the country. Also, his Gaza Fund is part of the same campaign. When there was a crisis between Iran and Israel, when the Iranian president was about to come to Sri Lanka, Ranil must have thought of Muslim votes when he welcomed him. As a result of that tactic, his own uncle’s paper attacked the absence of opposition leader Sajith at the dinner given by Ranil to the President of Iran.
Even before the Iranian President’s visit, the pro-government media reported that the American Embassy in Sri Lanka had protested against the Iranian President’s visit. It was stated that the American Embassy officials in Sri Lanka came to the Foreign Ministry and protested. After the Iranian President’s visit, the pro-government media published a statement by the Israeli ambassador to Sri Lanka expressing his concern about the Iranian President’s visit.
Throughout both the government tenures of 2002 and 2015-2019, the Muslim community harboured concerns regarding Ranil’s pro-American stance. Additionally, there are allegations within the Muslim populace that Ranil’s administration failed to promptly quell the anti-Muslim violence following the Easter attacks.
Ranil became president in 2022 and tried to win the Sinhala people with his Pro-American image. But it was only later that he realized that the Muslim people would be inconvenienced by it. He used the Iranian President’s visit for that purpose. After the Iranian President’s visit, news published only in the government-friendly Sinhala media was that the government did not allow an American research ship to enter Sri Lanka. This news was published in the main Sinhala media of the country.
It is not yet possible to say whether Ranil will succeed in winning over the Muslim people of this country with this media operation of Ranil’s government.
But it seems that China is elated by Ranil’s media operation of the Iranian President, as seen in the way the Chinese media reported the visit of the Iranian President. At a time when there is a crisis between Iran and Israel, Ranil’s acceptance of the Iranian president and Ranil’s advocacy for Global South is a turning point in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy. While China was happy with the Iranian President’s visit to Sri Lanka, the Japanese Foreign Minister came to Sri Lanka and agreed to give the necessary vessel equipment for Sri Lanka’s underwater survey. Japan agreed to give equipment as an answer to the Sri Lanka’s issue it does not have the equipment to carry out surveys. as Sri Lanka’s reason for allowing Chinese research vessels to reach their seas. . There are many contradictions in the Japanese foreign minister’s visit.
The government says that Japan is willing to sign an MOU to start supporting projects in Sri Lanka again. But the Japanese foreign minister told the journalists that Japan will not start projects in Sri Lanka until the debt restructuring is completed. There are doubts about the success of Ranil’s attempt to use international relations for domestic politics.
