Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said his country will always face many political challenges on account of being geographically superpositioned in a strategic location.
In a tweet message today, Mr. Rajapaksa said he strongly believes that they need to be economically strong in order to gain the political independence needed.
His comments came as key officials of several world powers including the US, Russia, China and Japan visited Sri Lanka this week.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his meeting with President has commented that China will not allow any world powers to interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. He also discussed the Hambantota port which President Rajapaksa has said should be revisited to address any security concerns.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells discussed the signing of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and other strategic agreements with Sri Lanka over which no consensus was reached.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also met Sri Lankan President yesterday in a bid to strengthen strategic and maritime cooperation between the two neighbours.
Sri Lanka occupies an important position in the Indian Ocean region and has seen growing Chinese influence in the past decade which the US and its allies have sought to counter.
The new government has clarified that it will follow a neutral foreign policy and has invited investments from other countries including India.
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