Pompeo's Visit And Issues Beyond MCC

Pompeo’s visit to South Asia is connected with far more important geopolitical and security issues. The Chinese embassy in Colombo issued a statement last week on the eve of Pompeo’s arrival criticising some aspects of the visit. However, many, and especially China, see USA as an ageing superpower that is in relative decline

- Prof. S W R de A Samarasinghe

Visits from US Secretaries of State to Sri Lanka are rare. In the past seventy-two years there have been only four visits - 1956, 1972, 2005 and 2015 - before Mike Pompeo’s visit last week. The Sri Lankan discourse on the visit has paid a great deal of attention to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant of $480m on offer. For nationalists, especially from the ranks of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration, it is a convenient target for criticism that also diverts public attention from other pressing problems people currently face. As Secretary Pompeo told the local media that Sri Lanka can decide between taking the grant or turning it down.

USA vs China

Pompeo’s visit to South Asia is connected with far more important geopolitical and security issues, especially in the Indo-Pacific region that involve, three big-league players, USA, India, China. USA still remains the sole superpower in the world. In 2019 the GDP of US was $21.5 trillion accounting for about 24% of the total global output. In the same year the military budget was $732 billion and that was about 37% of total global military spending. The share of the emerging global superpower China in global output was 16.4% and in military spending 13.0%.

However, many, and especially China, see USA as an ageing superpower that is in relative decline. China is fiercely competing against USA on every front, from economy and technology to military and political, not only to catch up with USA, but surpass it. In politics, it is offering a more authoritarian model of governance as an alternative to the liberal democracy model. Just now China stands out for its relative success in controlling the