Sri Lanka lost every time we moved away from neutral policy – Foreign Secretary
October 26, 2020 05:26 pm
Moving forward Sri Lanka intends to maintain a neutral foreign policy while remaining a non-aligned country, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colambage said.
He mentioned this speaking to Indeerwari Amuwatte on Ada Derana 24 current affairs program ‘@HydePark’ regarding Sri Lanka’s foreign policy that is currently being revamped.
Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colambage pointed out that Sri Lanka is in the center of the spheres of influence of major players in the world such as the United States of America (USA), India, China, Japan, Australia, and the European Union and that their focus of attention is crisscrossed on Sri Lanka.
“Many players want to make Sri Lanka a battleground. We should be consciously avoiding that”, he added.
“While we remain a non-aligned country, we want to remain neutral. We want to stay away from the power game. We don’t want to be caught up in the power game.”
The Foreign Affairs Secretary says there are five criteria of foreign policy that Sri Lanka should follow going on; remain neutral, stay away from the power game, maintain friendly relations with every nation, develop economic relations with all prospective countries, and be mindful of India’s strategic security concerns.
“If we cannot meet these five criteria in perfect balance, we will lose the game.”
Colambage further said that Sri Lanka has lost, retarded progress, and had internal conflicts every time it moved away from a non-aligned policy.
He pointed out that Sri Lanka does not have the luxury of selecting a particular country against another particular country.
“It is a very difficult balancing act. But that is the only way.”
