Press Release - We express our solidarity with India and the allied powers to protect and uphold the international rule-based order: GTC - Aug 9, 2022.
For Immediate release
August 09, 2022
We express our solidarity with India and the allied powers to protect and uphold the international rule-based order: GTC
Scarborough - Canada, Yuan Wang 5, the “Chinese scientific research vessel” that conducts satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region,” is scheduled to berth at the Hambantota port of Sri Lanka on August 11, 2022. The scheduled docking of this vessel at Hambantota stands to prove the prediction of the US department of defense last year.
“China has likely considered setting up a military base in Sri Lanka.” Said, the Pentagon in its Nov3, 2021 report titled, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.”
In this context, China has cleverly exploited the Sri Lankan vulnerability and corrupt Sinhala politics to ensure the continuation of its military expansion in the Indian Ocean region. The decision of handing over the port to China for a 99-year lease is evidence of Sri Lanka’s blind foreign policy and its ignorance of the national security of India and the other QUAD nations.
It is notable, that on August 1, 2022 the Tamil national Alliance, one of the opposition parties from Sri Lanka's Tamil Homeland has highlighted the gravity of the situation.
In a series of tweets the TNA said, the “Chinese space-craft tracking ship Yuan Wang-5 entering the Hambantota harbour on 11 August has again given rise to tensions in the region.” It also warned, Mr. Ranil Wickramsinghe’s government, that, China’s military presence in the Indian Ocean would give India a legitimate Defense concern and that Sri Lanka should not accentuate that by providing space for Chinese military presence.
The Global Tamil Council – A non-profit organization, based in Ontario; aimed at providing economic, political, and socio-cultural strategies to Global Thamils, and working for the emancipation and the right to Self-determination of the Tamil Nation in the island of Sri Lanka, denounce all military maneuvers that impacts the geopolitical stability of the Indian Ocean region and in particular any intended illiberal foreign aggression, that poses a threat to the maritime sovereignty and political security of the Indo-Pacific region.
As a Canadian Tamil advocacy organization, the GTC has the moral responsibility to call upon the government of Canada, to act swiftly and render its fullest support to the QUAD nations in this matter.
Further, we are also obliged to bring to your notice, that Canada as a CORE-GROUP member with regard to Sri Lanka in the UNHRC and the host country for the largest Tamil Diaspora, has to factor in, any illiberal military exercises in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, that will culminate in further deteriorating the already frail livelihood of the people in the Tamil Nation of Sri Lanka, that is already under the excessive occupation of the Sri Lankan armed forces.
While we urge the QUAD nations and Canada to take concrete measures to ensure peace and stability in the Indian Ocean and indo-Pacific regions, we also express our solidarity with India and the allied powers to protect and uphold the international rule-based order.
Mayoor Nathan
Global Tamil Council