Sri Lanka China Friendship Association (SLCFA) yesterday praised the government for having told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Sri Lanka will remain true to its non-aligned foreign policy principles and that it would never take any action that undermines Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. The SLCFA also thanks all patriotic and progressive forces that convinced the government if there was any doubt, that most Sri Lankans were opposed to American imperialism and bullying tactics.

During the last few weeks USA and its allies had been engaged in a massive campaign of misinformation and disinformation about Sri Lanka’s relationship with China. Despite the fact that Chinese loans to Sri Lanka being less than 10% of our overall debt burden and the fact that these loans, overwhelmingly, are concessionary loans, with an interest rate of around 2%, Pompeo and other US officials have tried to portray that China has Sri Lanka in a ‘debt trap.’

The desperation of the US officials, who see that their military and economic strength dwindling and their country, in chaos due to systematic racism against its minorities, can be seen by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s veiled threat to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on August 30, where he hinted that the US could again exert pressure on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. It’s laughable that on the same breath Pompeo saying they want “the people of Sri Lanka to have sovereignty and independence,” SLCFA President, Attorney-at-Law, Ananda Goonatilleke said.

In response to these baseless allegations and threats, foreign minister Dinesh Gunawardena told a joint press conference, in the presence of Pompeo, that Sri Lanka would remain non-aligned in its foreign relations. However what the most clear indication that the government was not buying into imperialist propaganda was President Rajapaksa’s claim that China had assisted in the development of Sri Lanka’s infrastructure since the end of the separatist war in May 2009 and that Sri Lanka had not been caught in a debt trap as a result.

SLCFA has always insisted that Sri Lanka is a nonaligned country, must stay true to its non-aligned foreign policy, which had served it so well in the past, not to be a “Strategic Partner” of any other country, and must resist attempts by imperialist and expansionist nations to bring us into their sphere of influence. Goonatilleke said that the Sri Lankan people, of various political persuasions, came together in recent weeks to demonstrate that this is how most Sri Lankans feel.

“The SLCFA is conscious of the unholy alliance of the USA, India and two other countries under the guise of safeguarding the Ocean around our country. Though South Asian neighboring nations are constantly faced with our own regional oceanic issues, we must resist interference of various distant powers who try to fish in the troubled Indian Ocean, not only to rob our fish and other oceanic vales but also to intrude into our geopolitical existence,” Goonatilleke said.