Independent parties, including Wimal Weerawansa, came together and formed a new alliance solemnly over the weekend. The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka also attended this event as a chief guest. Vimal said in front of the guests, including himself, that the opinion they held about Gotabhaya Rajapaksa before 2019 was wrong after he became the president.
Gotabhaya was a staunch supporter of America after he became president, and the reason for this was that he was planning to move to America when he retired from the presidency, and because his wife and son were American citizens, he was afraid of conflict with America.
Vimal tried to say in other words that Gotabaya was a pro-Chinese before he became president. Wimal’s story is true. In 2014, Gotabaya, who was the then defense secretary, allowed Chinese submarines to come to Sri Lanka, angering India. On October 20, 2014 Gotabhaya went to Delhi as Defense Secretary and met India’s Defense Adviser Ajith Doval. There, Ajit Doval told Gotabha that the arrival of Chinese submarines at Colombo port was a threat to India’s security. Gotabaya came to Sri Lanka after that visit and allowed another Chinese submarine to come to Sri Lanka, angering India.
Presidential election of 2015 was held after allowing this submarine to come. In the presidential election, Mahinda lost. Gotabaya lost the post of Defense Secretary.
On March 27, 2017, after loosing the defence secretary position when Gotabays met the Foreign Journalists he made a statement which shuck India. He said that India’s Defense Adviser Doval Obsession with China made India go for regime change. After making that statement, he left to China for a security conference for few days. Although the security chiefs of the world governments were the invitees for this conference, China had extended a special invitation to Gotabha, who was in the opposition. Shortly after that, Gotabaya spent time on an educational tour in China for about a month to mainly to avoid the court cases against him. China had given him that scholarship.
India’s Prime Minister Modi came to Sri Lanka when Gota’s Chinese friendship was in full bloom. The Rajapaksa family wanted Gota to meet Indian Prime Minister Modi. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil thought that Gota’s opposition to India would damage their Indian relations. Modi gave a time to meet Mahinda and India agreed to contact Gota for the meeting. Although Mahinda, GL, Gotabhaya met Modi, Modi did not speak a word to Gotabhaya. By thiis time, Gotabaya was ready to contest the 2019 presidential election and he tried to establish relations with India after meeting Modi.
As soon as Gotabhaya became president in 2019, the Chinese foreign minister told the media that Gotabhaya was his old friend. But Gotabaya went to India as soon as he became president. It was public statement and said that India should be given the East Terminal of Colombo Port. By this time, China had invited Gotabha to come to China.
The invitation was given by the Chinese President. But Gotabaya did not go to China showing Covid-19 as an excuse. China was stunned. Gotabaya told China to stop the Chinese power projects that were going to be started in Jaffna Islands saying that it was a threat to India’s security.China withdrew those projects accusing India.
At the same time, Gotabaya’s government refused to accept the fertilizer ship from China saying that it was unfit for use in Sri Lanka. China considered it an insult. The economic crisis started after that. Basil Rajapaksa as Finance Minister asked China for loan assistance, but China did not respond well. It was during this time that India offered to help Sri Lanka.
Before 2019, Gotabaya was a leader who created China. That is why pro-Chinese Wimal Weerawansala supported Gota. But today Wimal says that he was wrong. He does not say that China and Vimal both were wrong. But that’s the truth. India took over the Gota created by China. China is good at entangling countries in debt traps. But China cannot match India’s expertise in setting political traps.
Upul Joseph Fernando