Sri Lanka shares anti-terror experience with China

By Zhao Ran | Global Times
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Gamini Lakshman Peiris, Sri Lanka’s minister of external affairs, arrived in Beijing Thursday, where he attended a forum hosted by the China Institute of International Studies(CIIS). During his one-hour speech, he talked about the lessons Sri Lanka has learnt in defeating terrorism.

Sri Lanka is a small country with limited resources and population. It spent more than three decades combating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant group based in the north part of the country.

“The LTTE group was defeated in May 2009, but the victory cost the lives of many civilians as well as damaged seriously the country’s economy”, he said.

"The most important lesson we have learned is that if a country wants to succeed in their war on terror, the effort has to be made by the country itself, not by a foreign army of another country. Because intuitively, people will support their own in-land terrorists and gang up against foreign armies as they will consider them an invading force. " Peiris said at the forum.

The minister told the Global Times, “however, the country is now safe and the areas affected in the conflict have been revived.” He also added that the country needs more investments from China in the areas of agriculture, tourism, and service industry.

“China, having extended material and moral support during our effort to combat terrorism, is today contributing significantly to the economic development of Sri Lanka”, he said.

Before landing in Beijing, he had visited Sichuan and Shanghai, where the country has consulates.

© Global Times