S. Korea, Sri Lanka and BRICS

By further strengthening her ties with South Korea, Sri Lanka acknowledges the status this economic giant of East Asia enjoys as a notable actor in the current global economic order. We would be putting it very mildly by saying that South Korea has come a long way from being in the throes of war in the immediate post World War Two years. The truth is that she has risen from the dust and debris of conflict in a most exemplary and courageous fashion. She is a veritable role model for most developing countries.

Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that Sri Lanka is opting to consolidate her generally amicable and warm relations with South Korea which today ranks as one of the world's most dynamic and productive economies. In fact Korea is among the foremost of car manufacturers and ship builders, besides being a number electronic goods manufacturer, to mention only a few of South Korea's achievements in the economic sphere. There is no doubt that the gains will be great for both Korea and Sri Lanka through the ongoing process of Sri Lanka integrating closely with the Korean economy.

Besides acting as a fillip to closer economic cooperation between Korea and Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's current visit to South Korea is a pointer to the great trust and confidence South Korea reposes in Sri Lanka and vice versa. In a way, this is a resounding slap in the face of those sections of the West which have sought to criticize Sri Lanka over what are made out to be accountability issues and other contentious questions.

South Korea is an economic powerhouse of the Far East and many are the Western economic powers who would give anything to have close economic links with her. The expectation is also likely to be great on the part of these Western powers to get Korea on to their side in their efforts to internationally isolate Sri Lanka. However, by cultivating increasingly closer links with Sri Lanka, Korea is proving amply that it has a mind of its own on international questions. Besides, she has more than adequately spotted Sri Lanka's growth potential and the current visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Korea is symbolic of this recognition, besides being important in numerous other ways.

South Korea's importance in contemporary world affairs is gauged by the fact that she is mentioned along with Brazil, India, China and South Africa or the BRICS, as contributing substantially towards the multi-polar nature of the current global political and economic order. Needless to say, we have come quite some distance from those Cold War times when the international political order was bipolar in nature; that is, a world system dominated by the US and the USSR. Today, multi-polarity rather than bipolarity characterizes international politics and countries such as Korea have contributed greatly to this revolutionary change.

Why should multi-polarity be considered as an improvement on bipolarity? The answer to this question is the space and the opportunities that a multi-polar power structure would provide the bourgeoning economies of the world, such as that of Sri Lanka, to grow and prosper. If under a bipolar world order the growth of developing economies was stifled and frustrated, it is not the case now and dynamic and productive economies, such as those of South Korea and the BRICS, have made this possible. Multi-polarity has, in a way, rendered more democratic and plural the international power structure and this has provided more opportunities for up and coming economies to better their lot.

The current epoch in world affairs is looked upon as one that fosters economic globalization. Essentially, this is a process that features an unprecedented intertwining of the world's economies. That is, economic interpenetration of countries is a foremost characteristic of our age and this process is believed to be yielding material benefits for those economies that are thus interacting.

It is open to question whether the process of globalization ushers absolute fairness in economic interaction among countries, but there is no doubt that multi-polarity would help in liberalizing the world economy and in making it less likely to be controlled by one or two hegemonic powers. In fact it helps in opening a world of opportunities for countries, such as Sri Lanka. It opens the opportunity for Sri Lanka to traverse Korea's path.