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China stung by Sri Lankas

election

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By Miles Yu - - Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sri Lankas presidential election earlier this month dealt China a major blow as
opposition leader Maithripala Sirisena, who had made curtailing excessive Chinese
influence the main focus of his campaign, won a surprise victory over the Beijing-friendly
incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Global Times, Chinas leading international politics and security newspaper,
published a somber editorial on Jan. 20 bemoaning the Sri Lankan result. The editorial
draws a parallel to Chinas overly eager investment in Myanmar in the past, only to see
those projects rejected, curtailed or canceled by a newly elected anti-China leader.
The risk we are facing in todays Sri Lanka once again should remind us that we should

have placed several more layers of insurance on some countries political uncertainty,
the Global Times editorial stated, even though its easier said than done in this regard.
China has eyed the Indian Ocean nation over the past decade as the key link connecting
and commanding some major maritime and strategic choke points of the world,
including one of the most crucial sea lanes of communication that passes through the
country.
As a result, China has lavishly spent on Sri Lanka, especially its military and the nations
infrastructure, culminating in June 2012 when Beijing surprised the world by announcing
a whopping $50 billion plan to rebuild Sri Lankas key military and civilian infrastructure
over the next 10 to 15 years.
In particular, China spent billions to build the deep-sea ports of Hambantota and
Colombo, which allowed the Chinese nuclear- and conventional-powered submarines to
dock last year, prompting security alarms from New Delhi and Tokyo to Washington.

However, Sri Lankas overreliance on China and Chinas dominant role in Sri Lankas
economy and government have backfired among voters. The pro-Beijing incumbent Mr.
Rajapaksa was soundly defeated by the more skeptical Mr. Sirisena, with a 51.28 percent
versus 47.58 percent of all votes.
Mr. Sirisena has vowed to balance the nations relationship with all friendly nations,
especially India, Pakistan and Japan, and not just focus on China. He has also vowed to
stop several key Chinese-operated projects immediately, including the $1.4 billion project
to modernize the port of Colombo.
Mr. Sirisenas approach has not been taken lightly by Beijing, and the agony of defeat is
palpable in state-controlled media outlets, which rarely admits any faux pas of Chinas
international diplomacy.
China is obviously lagging behind in securing insurances against political precariousness
in targeted foreign countries during the process of Chinas global outreach campaign,
said the Beijing-based Global Times. Our comprehensive diplomatic strength does not
match the demand for dealing with composite risks overseas. [Chinas global outreach] is
destined to encounter risks, [and] sometimes these risks make us sweat in fear.
It seems that money alone really cant buy friends.
General, likely corruption target, dies
Gen. Zhang Wannian, the most powerful Chinese Peoples Liberation Army officer

between 1995 and 2003 as the vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Partys Central
Military Commission, died on Jan. 14 at the age of 87.
Gen. Zhang was a pivotal figure in some of the most important military affairs under
General Secretary Jiang Zemin. In 1997 Gen. Zhang was the only senior military
representative at the 1997 Hong Kong handover ceremony, but he was mostly
remembered for advocating for and conducting a missile exercise to intimidate
Taiwanese voters in March 1996 in the island democracys first-ever direct presidential
election. In response, the U.S. government dispatched two nuclear-powered aircraft
carriers to the waters off Taiwan to deter further military intimidation.
Gen. Zhang was known as Mr. Jiangs loyal henchman inside the Communist Party
Politburo. He was reported to have engineered a semicoup in the inner sanctum of the
Party to allow Mr. Jiang to retain his control over the PLA for two more years after Mr.
Jiangs handover of power to successor Hu Jintao. That move by Gen. Zhang was deeply
resented by Mr. Hu and reportedly also by Xi Jinping, Chinas current supreme leader.
Some analysts believe that Mr. Xis current anti-corruption campaign inside the PLA
initially targeted Gen. Zhang, whose most influential protege inside the PLA was Lt. Gen.
Gu Junshan, the very first corrupt senior military official dubbed by Mr. Xi as tiger
to fall under the sweeping anti-graft campaign.
Gen. Gu began his meteoric rise in 2001 and was promoted by Gen. Zhang to run the
PLAs lucrative base and barracks construction department. When Gen. Gu published a
self-glorifying autobiography, Gen. Zhang wrote a maudlin preface.
However, Gen. Gu was purged two years ago by Mr. Xi as the moneyman in the PLA who
had bribed many key army leaders during Mr. Hus reign, including the recently purged
former CMC Vice Chairman Gen. Xu Caihou.
Some military analysts believe that if Zhang Wannian had not died, he would certainly
become the next fallen tiger under Mr. Xis binge of purges inside the PLA.
Miles Yus column appears Fridays. He can be reached at mmilesyu@gmail.com and
@Yu_miles.
Posted by Thavam

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