Chop-sticks and Fiddle-sticks !

By I. P. C. MENDIS

The Chinese, despite their ideology, do sometimes take Western thoughts seriously.- ” Waste not, want not”. ! A peep into the internet will reveal how the Chinese convert human waste into “Black Gold” ! As late as 2017, 85% of human waste or “night soil” as it is commonly known ,was converted into fertiliser in rural China. The miilions of livestock, including pigs and cattle, are said to contribute their mite to the final product. And, indeed, the final product by whatever name you chose to call it _ is marketed as “Organic Fertiiser”. !. Indeed,, we Sri Lankans have to thank the benevolent Chinese then (and now) for coming to our rescue and, of course, our then UNP Minister of Commerce and Trade, the late R.G. Senanayake for the bold “gate-crash” into forbidden territory, the Conmmunis world notwithstanding strong ties with the Western Imperialist set-up the UNP regime had at the time, by entering into the Rubber-Rice Agreement which kept the Sri Lankan nation fed… so to speak, for a, year and a day, till the late Prime Minister, the SWRDB sealed the shaky friendship with diplomatic ties. THe Rice Ration Book became a worthy negotiable document

Indeed, it seems an irony of fate that decades later, a succeeding Sri Lankan regime had to turn down a consignment of “organic fertiliser” from China on the score of bacterial infection in the context of our own consumption decades ago of rice grown in China porbably very much fertilised by the well-known variety of Chinese “organic fertiliser” received with great acceptance and still remembered with great gratitude !.

The Chinese are still our close friends and continue to support us economically and internationally when certain others seek to play double games. It is in the course of her own natural course of governance that they have to voice their concern over a trade issue concerning the quality of fertiliser sought to be delivered and we have to understand that. However, the fact that we are in an unenviable situation economically and otherwise is not a situation which should open us up for arm-twisting or blackmail, calling into question the integrity and verdict of our own respected outfit, the Natiional Plant Protection outfit that is in charge of such matters. The Chinese themselves need to realise that our leanings on them have already irked the Western world, India and Japan, and they are mature enough to understand the consequences of any antagonistic stand by them against Sri Lanka, They need to appreciate that the legal authority lies with such outfit and as buyers Sri Lanka calls the tune. Our legal authorities need not be and should not be subject to outside oversight or interference.Such a situation will be a very bad precedent embarrassing the standing of the local authority. The two State Ministers should never have acquiesced.and the government needs to stand firm. The visit by two State Ministers to the Chinese Mission in Sri Lanka over a dispute on a trade issue leaves a bad taste in the mouth and the stance taken by the Chinese government on the said issue, the antics reported to have been resorted to by the vessel , the samples not being tested earlier, etc., are not matters that can be condoned or made short shrift of considering the all-important fact of the sovereignty of the nation. Also, several questions remain unanswered, such as the date of the Cabinet decision, the date the LOC was opened, the procedures followed, etc. The Chinese, an all-powerful nation, should be ashamed not to realise the implications and the complications of questioning the integrity and validity of the findings of the National Plant Protection arm of the government, which has the final say. Given the background and history of the fertiliser manufacturing processes in China, there lies some chance of contamination and a second consignment would not arise for the simple reason that the farmers or the end-user is now prejudiced or biased and could not be compelled to use it at any cost. It will be throwing good money after bad for the sake of possible goodwill, with the government holding the baby and the already embattered taxpayer being whipped further and commission agents laughing all the way. Let us put our foot down for once and save our dignity!