President Ranil Wickremesinghe also derided the term Indo-Pacific as an artificial framework with an inconsistent definition. He also countered recent claims by New Delhi that Beijing was sending ships to Sri Lanka to spy on India.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday declared the Aukussecurity pact between Australia, Britain and the US a mistake while rejecting any concerns over Beijings perceived influence on his debt-ridden island nation.

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 NationsGeneral Assembly.

I think its a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake, Wickremesinghe added, describing the alliance as unnecessary. I dont think it was needed.

Created in September 2021, Aukus is described by the governments of its member states as a security partnership involving information and technology sharing on nuclear-powered submarines, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and additional undersea capabilities.

Wickremesinghe laughed off the term Indo-Pacific, calling the recently-coined geostrategic zone an artificial framework.

Nobody knows whats Indo-Pacific, he said. For some people, the Indo-Pacific ends on the western boundary of India, others take it into Africa, and some end up with Western Pacific, others go to South Pacific.

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? Its 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 thats taking place in Asia. Its 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 dont want any military activity and that most countries in the region will not want Nato anywhere close by.

Sri Lankas Hambatota port has long been cited in discussion around Chinas lending practices along with accusations of debt-trap diplomacy but in his address on Monday, Wickremesinghe accused the West of having a scant understanding of how the Indian Ocean region operates.

He rejected reports that Colombo was letting Beijing operate a military base in Sri Lanka. He said the Hambantota was a commercial port run by Chinese state-owned China Merchants Group, and that the security of the port lay with the Sri Lanka Navy.

He also countered recent claims made by New Delhi that Beijing was sending ships to Sri Lanka to spy on India..

There are no spy ships in Sri Lanka. I dont know if anyone can establish a spy ship, Wickremesinghe said, describing them as research vessels that had been visiting for the past 10 years under an agreement between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sri Lankas national aquatic research agency.

First published in the South China Morning Post September 19, 2023