‘South Asia must determine its own destiny’: Ranil Wickremesinghe at WION Global Summit in Dubai

Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing the audience at the WION Global Summit in Dubai

Dubai: This is an era which is witnessing the end of western dominance and South Asia must determine its own destiny, Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Prime Minister said in his keynote address at the third edition WION Global Summit 2020 in Dubai on Thursday.

Commencing his address at the summit as the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour, the Sri Lankan leader lauded India’s first international news channel WION as a “pioneer in creating a global platform to present the geopolitical analysis of recent South Asian trends”.

The former Sri Lankan Premier said South Asia is growing in importance.

“The critical challenges we face include the ability to succeed in the economic integration of the South Asian region making us the fourth trading block, many of the regional conflicts. Geopolitical impact of these developments matter both to us and the rest of the world.”

Outlining the trends to be prepared to navigate global imperatives of today, Wickremesinghe said the world is suddenly experiencing an unprecedented multi-area transitions which are so rapid that policymakers do not have enough time to adjust.

“This is an era which is witnessing the end of western global dominance, and is being shaped by new forces,” said Wickremesinghe adding that the “sudden rise of China in economic, military, political spheres challenging the unipolar world by attempting to remodel the existing global order.”

The resulting globalisation is shaping a new global competition in all spheres, he said.

“Through the climate change, we are today witnessing the impact of the climate change due to industrialisation, GDP growth and population growth over two centuries, melting glaciers increasing the ocean temperatures, and the rising sea levels.”

“Impact of such magnitude which resulted in a schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, today a household name, challenging the US President Donald Trump,” he said.

He said the rules-based model on globalisation is facing challenges. Good example is the world Trade Organisation grinding to a halt. Transnational actors who expected to uphold these rules are acting in their self-interest and withholding support. Technology brings about far reaching changes in the system of global governance.

Politically we are living in a multi-polar world, where every major power centre has suddenly begun to experience unexpected internal pressures of serious kind.

“China, one year ago was very strong and stable. Now coronavirus has rapidly destabilised its economy. For the first three decades, the country expanding its international affairs was brought to a halt by a virus, which is testing its health services to the limit,” Wickremesinghe pointed out.

“May be it’s only China that can face trade war and coronavirus simultaneously.”

He said the US, the major economic and military power is politically divided as never before, heading for an uncertain election. “The new America First policy abandoned the whole superpower concept, and alienating friends has resulted in a new attempt to function with a fewer allies than before.”

“EU, one of the great political achievements of our time is now divided and weakened with arising anti-EU rights. Brexit has left UK searching for trade partners in all corners of the world with an uncertain impact on the medium term economy.”

Russia, technically a strong nuclear power now fearful of sudden falling of fuel prices, and the Middle East is unprecedentedly divided and getting worse, Wickremesinghe noted.

He said the continuing shift of balance to Asia and its interconnectedness is making the whole system vulnerable to regional developments with enormous speed.

“Best example is coronavirus, which has resulted in China, the factory of the world, bringing the global value chains either to a halt or to a slowdown affecting a number of mother economies.”

“For example, Sri Lanka’s own apparel trade is coming to a halt because we can’t get our fabrics from China,” he observed.

He said that South Asia must determine its own destiny and all the military and political power will not restore the economic power. Economic integration of the region is the only answer.

WION Global Summit is a platform for global leaders to come together at a single platform and have a dialogue on a common global agenda.