Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka appointed retired Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha, who had got his higher education in China, as the new defence secretary replacing an ex-army general.
Thuyacontha has completed his Master’s degree in Defence Studies at the National Defence University of China. He had also served as the former Defence Advisor at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Pakistan.
He has also served as the former commanding officer of the Chinese Harbour Air Force College.
Defence Secretary post is once of the important portfolio in the island nation as it deals with a geopolitical cold war due to Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean.
India has raised increasing concerns with successive Sri Lankan government on Chinese vessels coming to Sri Lankan shores. The last administration under former president Ranil Wickremsinghe banned Chinese vessels coming to the island nation for research purposes due to strong security concerns raised by India.
President Dissanaya’s Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has maintained a strong anti-Indian sentiment and opposed key Indian projects in Sri Lanka.
Thuyacontha succeeds former army general Kamal Gunaratne, who held the defence secretary post since 2019 after being appointed by former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.