Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday 19 September 2023 declared the Aukus security pact between Australia, Britain and the US “a mistake”. “It is a military alliance moved against one country – China,” he said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I think it’s a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake,” Wickremesinghe added, describing the alliance as unnecessary. “I don’t think it was needed.”
The Sri Lankan leader said the Sino-US rivalry originated in the Western Pacific but had now spread to both the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
“Why we are getting pulled into it? It’s difficult for us to understand,” he said, stressing that he had seen many geopolitical blocs shifting in his decades-long political career.
“The next round of rivalry is going on. And that’s taking place in Asia. It’s the question of China versus the US, on how they are going to divide their region of influence in Asia,” Wickremesinghe said.
On an expected expansion of Nato into Asia, he said “as far as the Indian Ocean is concerned, we don’t want any military activity” and that most countries in the region “will not want Nato anywhere close by”.
According to the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka, Australia has been a close friend and partner since before independence, underpinned by extensive bilateral cooperation and people-to-people links. Australia's Sri Lankan community of 170,000 people makes a significant contribution to Australian society.
Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million people and The Sri Lanka Armed Forces, comprising the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force, come under the purview of the Ministry of Defence. The total strength of the three services is around 346,000 personnel, with nearly 36,000 reserves. [Compare Australia's combined defence forces of in total numbering 81,214 personnel including 57,982 regulars and 23,232 reservists]. The Sri Lankan armed forces have been in a continuous mobilised state for the last 30 years. The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have engaged in United Nations peacekeeping operations since the early 1960s, contributing forces to permanent contingents deployed in several UN peacekeeping missions in Chad, Lebanon, and Haiti.
On 27 January 2023, High Commissioner Paul Stephens hosted a reception to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Sri Lanka. This event was attended by key Sri Lankan government officials, members of the diplomatic community and other partners across development, education, trade and investment sectors.
Australia is the 11th exporting partner of Sri Lanka and the 5th source of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka. The total trade turnover between Sri Lanka and Australia is USD 438.14 Mn and the key exports products are apparel, tea and tyres. Bilateral relations are generally warm, supported by trade, investment flows, education, immigration and other development co-operations. Australia is also a member in helping the economic and social development of Sri Lanka.
In 2007 a two-way trade agreement was created between Australia and Sri Lanka valued at $232 million a year. The trade agreement includes exports from Australia such as vegetables and dairy products. Tea and other foods, textiles, clothing, rubber, iron and steel which are the main imports from Sri Lanka.
In 2008–09 the estimated budget for aid to Sri Lanka is $27 million.
Sri Lanka has long been seen as an important regional partner and Sri Lanka defence ties are in the process of being expanded with a broader focus on maritime security. In 2019, as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour, a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A patrol aircraft made a symbolically important visit to Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka, where a Chinese company controversially controls the nearby port. In May this year, Australia donated a Beechcraft KA350 twin-engine turboprop aircraft to the Sri Lankan Air Force to complement the 2014 gift of two Bay-class offshore patrol vessels to the Sri Lankan Navy. Further gifts should be expected. A broad-based security partnership with Sri Lanka will provide Australia with many new options in developing its presence in the Bay of Bengal.
As part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023, RAAF aircraft will visit Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Those visits could potentially be expanded in 2024 to include Australian naval visits.
Regular visits by Australian ships and aircraft to India and other partners in the northeast Indian Ocean will be important in familiarising ADF personnel with those nations and their facilities, as well as further developing Australia’s maritime and surveillance presence in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Australia is also stepping up its assistance to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives in building their maritime domain awareness capabilities.
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