On the NPP Government’s Military MOU with the United States

The Communist Party of Sri Lanka strongly condemns the NPP government for entering into a new military Memorandum of Understanding with the United States National Guard under the so-called State Partnership Program (SPP). This agreement between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the Montana National Guard represents another step in the militarisation of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ and the erosion of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. 

The new US–Sri Lanka MOU formalises cooperation on a wide range of military activities: joint training, maritime surveillance, air operations, and disaster-response integration between the US National Guard and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. The agreement should be seen as pretext for embedding US military structures within Sri Lanka. 

This MOU has been signed in a context of heightened US militarism, including Washington’s open threats of aggression against Venezuela and complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Moreover, this is the second military agreement reached by the NPP government, following the earlier India–Sri Lanka defence MOU whose contents remain entirely concealed from the public. 

There are critical questions that every Sri Lankan must ask:

• Was signing this agreement a political condition for the reduction in tariffs?
• Is this MOU a precursor to signing a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States?
• Will Sri Lanka's military, naval and air force infrastructure facilities, as well as Sri Lanka's ports and airports, be placed at the disposal of the US war machine?
• Is Sri Lanka to be a pawn in US military aggression in Asia?

The CPSL reaffirms that Sri Lanka must be a non-aligned, sovereign country. We call on the NPP government to immediately disclose the content of all military agreements it has entered into, halt further defence cooperation with foreign powers, and place national security decisions under democratic scrutiny.

Further, we call upon all anti-imperialist and patriotic forces to come forward to protect non-aligned status and sovereignty of the country. 

11November 2025