Non-alignment in today’s world order: Sri Lanka’s foreign policy

There could not have been a more fitting place than the BMICH for anyone to recall Sri Lanka’s striking involvement with the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) during the days of the 
Cold War

We haven’t got the hub-and-spoke system of the Asia-Pacific, or the quasi alliances that go on there. That is of value to us. As far as we are concerned, we have been free of great power rivalry so far 

“Sri Lankan should carry out the concept of which there is bipartisan agreement, where Sri Lanka stays out of and opposes any attempt to bifurcate Asia, and we go along to ensure peace and stability in our region.” 

These are the words of President Ranil Wickremesinghe that resonated at the ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) on May 10, 2023. There could not have been a more fitting place than the BMICH for anyone to recall Sri Lanka’s striking involvement with the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) during the days of the Cold War. We tend to see NAM as the feather in Sri Lanka’s diplomatic cap, and there’s no doubt about it. The ideological dispositions aside, it was a testament to how astute our political and diplomatic apparatus were in manoeuvring around the jugged geopolitical landscape at the time. All the same, it is a memory of a bygone age. Times have changed; the once bipolar world became unipolar, and now it is coalescing into a multi-polar mix. Our own country’s dynamics have changed beyond recognition. We are a new world today. Then the question is what can we learn from our experience from NAM? 

This is the essence of President Wickremesinghe’s speech. He crisply explained the current geopolitical landscape. His view of the post-Cold War polarity shift is not merely a unipolar to multi-polar shift. It is a unipolar to Asia shift. A shift which kick-started a great power rivalry between the USA and China, both trying to determine their respective roles in the world; the USA to defend its role in the world and China as a major power, to define its role in Asia and in the world. He claims that new institutions, a new order, and the concept of the “Asia-Pacific” were born out of this ‘pivot to Asia’. As a result, tensions in Asia have heightened to levels that we have never seen in the recent past. President Wickremesinghe then asked: what is our foreign policy? where do we stand? what do we do? 
He laid down three principles to anchor our foreign policy in these testing times. Three principles that he said can certainly help Sri Lanka navigate its way through to ensure that stability is maintained in the Indo-Pacific. Three principles that encourage working with all other countries in the Indo-Pacific, in the BRI and in the RCEP. 
First is to adhere to the Bandung principles and PanchShila of the NAM. Naturally,

you will ask whether the NAM is still relevant. Academics too question whether NAM is an anachronism since today there is no state of global war after the fall of the Soviet Union. Well, from a neutralist point of view, it is pretty much relevant today given the war in Ukraine and the fact that, as the President put it “we are now being asked to choose sides”. Against this backdrop, there’s a lot of precedents going back to NAM and the Bandung principles, and therefore he stresses that they are still valid for today. 
The second principle is to support the ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific. In his words, “The Indian and Pacific oceans are two distinct but interconnected oceans. The geopolitics of Indian Ocean is quite different from the Asia-Pacific. We haven’t got the hub-and-spoke system of the Asia-Pacific, or the quasi alliances that go on there. That is of value to us. As far as we are concerned, we have been free of great power rivalry so far.

” However, alluding to the war in Ukraine, he stressed that “we should not allow that to come into the Indian Ocean”. He drew parallels between this case and the build-up of military bases in Africa consequent to the piracy situation and stated that those countries “should work with the African Union, which is responsible for the regional security of the African continent”. In other words, the recourse is in taking up a multilateral approach to handling this potential crisis. 
President stressed that “we must ensure that the ASEAN is further strengthened in the coming decades”. It is noteworthy that on the back of this speech, a team of senior government officials concluded a fact-finding to Indonesia in June to explore avenues for Sri Lanka’s early entry into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). RCEP is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that came into force on January 01, 2022 between the ten member states of ASEAN and its five FTA partners that, based on 2021 statistics covers almost 30% of the world’s population, with a combined GDP of US$ 29.3 trillion, and accounts for nearly 28% of global trade. It is reported that this was the first ever fact‑finding mission to RCEP by any country. Furthermore, we also heard about President Wickremesinghe’s new foreign policy initiative called “Look Africa” which aims to enhance Sri Lanka’s bilateral relations with countries in Africa and with the African Union to address common issues of complex nature in the spirit of solidarity of South-South Cooperation. 
What does he mean by South-South cooperation in this context? In the aftermath of the infamous Qur’an burning incident in Sweden a few months ago, he delivered a speech on July 11 where he strongly condemned the act and went on to make some pertinent and groundbreaking points regarding the North-South divide.

In his speech, he urged the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to define the limits of freedom of expression because there is a clear difference in how the global South and West have reacted to this heinous act. While the former has deplored the act as an attack against freedom of worship, the West has tried to club it under the umbrella of freedom of expression. This he sees as having the potential to create a total break between the global South and the Western value systems. He also supported Pakistan’s resolution to the UN Human Rights Council against the Qur’an burning incident and said that this is the beginning of us (i.e. South) trying to get our values into the Human Rights Council. Furthermore, he stressed that the Commonwealth of Nations (CoN), a global body which comprises of a significant portion of the global South should take a leading role in defining and protecting human rights. In essence, President Wickremesinghe is making a point to giving a stronger prominence and legitimacy to the global South’s value system in International affairs. 
The third and the last principle is to go back to the Indian Ocean Peace Zone concept, which was promoted by the former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the early 70s. President Wickremesinghe doesn’t believe that the Indian Ocean region should be a theatre for modern-day proxy battles. He stresses that we should not allow great power presence in the context of rivalry lest it fracture the continent and bifurcate the region.

President Wickremesinghe says that “we are not interested in bifurcation lines across Asia. We want Asia to develop without us getting caught in the middle.” It all alludes to us that his foreign policy approach is hinged on a having united and peaceful Indian Ocean region, stronger ASEAN and AU and the promoting the global South’s value system. 
 Can Sri Lanka take the lead in this journey? Can this be the second feather in our cap? 
The author is a lecturer in International Politics and International Relations and a software consultant in process and product planning. He is attached to the University of Peradeniya and the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies as a visiting/part-time lecturer.