America was not impressed with the way Ranil suppressed the ‘aragalaya’ when he became president. That’s why the American President did not congratulate Ranil even though he was a friend of America. But the wait-and-see approach shown by the US after Ranil became the President changed after the visit of the US State Department Acting Deputy Secretary Victoria Nuland to Sri Lanka. She gave good references to Ranil’s government and attacked China. She came to Sri Lanka in February 2023.CIA chief came in March to Sri Lanka. The IMF facility for which Ranil was waiting came after that. It made Ranil politically strong.
Ranil illegally postponed the election and America did not talk about it. Even though Ranil led a repressive government in Sri Lanka, America did not issue any statement. Ranil also showed that he has the support of America. He even showed through the media that the C.I.A. is protecting him politically. America hoped that Ranil would eliminate Chinese influence in Sri Lanka. Ranil gave that hope to America. Meanwhile, he also gave hope to China. The assurance he gave to China in 2015-2019 during his tenure as prime minister decided to lease the Hambantota port to China despite country-wide protests and despite his assurance to abolish Colombo port city during the 2015 election but not implementing it.
China helped Ranil to get an IMF facility by trusting him. But China was more cunning than America. They sent ship after ship to test Ranil from time to time. Ranil allowed these ships to come when India and America protested. Now China has decided to send a new research vessel with debt restructuring on the horizon. With Ranil’s permission for this ship to arrive, America was disturbed. Victoria Nuland, who came to Sri Lanka and had high praise for Ranil, met Foreign Minister Ali Sabri in America and questioned him about this ship.
Now Ranil is trapped. He was so enraged that he strongly attacked the ‘Aukus’ pact made by America, Australia and Britain against China. He said it was an unnecessary military alliance. Chinese media gave it wide publicity. He made that statement and imposed conditions on the Chinese ship. It was changed to allow the Chinese ship, which was supposed to arrive in October to arrive in November. Ranil is scheduled to go to China in October and he is looking at China’s response regarding debt restructuring and to allow the Chinese ship to come. He thinks that by delaying the entry of the Chinese ship, the Paris Club, Japan and India will be able to finalise the debt restructuring talks.
But China is going to test Ranil with this ship. America and India are also going to test Ranil on this ship. Ranil outsmarted America, India, Japan and China for a year as president. Now America, China and India have started to outsmart Ranil.
