Goodbye, Ambassador Julie Chung
Thank you for your service — and for witnessing Sri Lanka as it truly is
Diplomatic Correspondent
By any reasonable diplomatic measure, Julie Chung’s tenure as United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka was not merely an assignment; it was a front-row seat to history in motion.
When President Joe Biden nominated Chung on June 15, 2021, Sri Lanka appeared, at least outwardly, politically stable. By the time she presented her credentials to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on February 25, 2022, the country was already showing signs of economic exhaustion. What followed would test not only Sri Lanka’s political class but also the temperament and resilience of foreign diplomacy itself.
Ambassador Chung would go on to witness the dramatic collapse of a presidency, the flight of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the constitutional elevation of Ranil Wickremesinghe, and—perhaps most strikingly—the electoral rise of Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP), a political force long considered peripheral until it was not.
Few ambassadors can claim to have observed such a rapid succession of regime change, protest politics, economic default, IMF negotiations, and ideological realignment within a single posting. Fewer still can claim to have navigated it while remaining constantly visible—sometimes uncomfortably so.
A diplomat who saw everything
Chung’s diplomatic résumé preceded her. Senate hearings on her nomination were held on October 20, 2021. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported favorably on November 3, and she was confirmed by voice vote on December 18, 2021. By institutional standards, she arrived with confidence and bipartisan legitimacy.
But Sri Lanka is not a country that allows diplomats to remain abstract. It draws them in.
During her tenure, Chung traveled extensively across the island, meeting political leaders, religious clergy, civil society groups, activists, and ordinary citizens battered by shortages, inflation, and uncertainty. She listened—often publicly, sometimes pointedly. That visibility became both her strength and her liability.
She encountered Sinhala politicians armed with complaint letters, Tamil politicians seeking international arbitration, Muslim politicians divided between earnest advocacy and theatrical grievance. She was accused of favoritism by all sides, which in Sri Lankan politics is often a sign of having listened to everyone.
What distinguished Chung, according to many observers, was her refusal to be naïve. She understood political theatre when she saw it. She was backed by advisors around the clock, well-versed in the island’s personalities, histories, and contradictions. She knew which crises were real—and which were performative.
China, the Indo-Pacific, and a telling visit
One moment symbolized her broader diplomatic approach: her visit to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo. Speaking in Cantonese, without an interpreter, Chung signaled something subtle but significant—that strategic competition does not preclude professional respect.
This was no small gesture in a country where Chinese investment has reshaped ports, highways, energy infrastructure, and strategic calculations. During Chung’s tenure, Sri Lanka’s role in the Indo-Pacific became sharper, not softer. She observed Chinese investment grow rapidly, even as the United States recalibrated its alliances across the region.
She also witnessed the moment Sri Lanka turned, desperate and depleted, to the International Monetary Fund. Ironically, the IMF program that stabilized the Sri Lankan state also stabilized the diplomatic ecosystem around it—including foreign missions operating in an economy on the brink.
Controversy as a constant companion
No American ambassador in Colombo escapes controversy, and Chung was no exception.
Former minister Wimal Weerawansa accused her—most notably in his 2023 book Navaya: Sengawunu Kathawa—of conspiring to overthrow President Rajapaksa. These allegations, echoed at the book’s launch, were widely dismissed as misinformation. Counter-allegations suggested the book itself had external funding, including claims of Chinese backing. No evidence substantiated the conspiracy theory, and it failed to gain traction beyond nationalist circles.
In August 2023, the Federation of National Organizations delivered a letter to the Foreign Minister alleging diplomatic protocol violations. The Foreign Ministry dismissed it.
In October 2023, a parliamentary sectoral oversight committee advised that Chung avoid commenting on internal affairs, citing the Vienna Convention. Parliament itself ultimately dismissed the accusations.
Most recently, in February 2025, the Coalition Against Partition of Sri Lanka staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy, accusing Chung of breaching diplomatic norms and misusing USAID funds. As with previous protests, the claims remained unproven and politically charged.
In short, Chung became a symbol—praised by some, vilified by others—largely because she did not disappear into ceremonial diplomacy.
Standing with ordinary Sri Lankans
Through it all, Ambassador Chung consistently emphasized democratic process, non-violence, and the rights of ordinary citizens. Critics called it interference. Supporters called it principle. Diplomats call it the job.
She represented Washington—its interests, its alliances, its contradictions. She did not pretend otherwise. Yet she also understood Sri Lanka not merely as a strategic node, but as a society under strain.
Now, recalled under the Trump administration and returning to Washington with or without a defined portfolio, Julie Chung leaves having “seen it all”: presidents fall, protests rise, economies collapse and recover, ideologies die and return in new forms.
Sri Lanka rarely offers foreign diplomats the luxury of detachment. Chung did not seek it.
A farewell, from Sri Lanka
As Sri Lankans, we know how to argue loudly, accuse freely, and forget slowly. But we also know how to say goodbye.
Goodbye, Ambassador Julie Chung.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for witnessing us—not as we wish to be seen, but as we are.
And in Korean:
안녕히 가십시오, 줄리 정 대사님.
스리랑카에서 보여주신 봉사와 헌신에 감사드립니다.
당신의 앞날에 평안과 성공이 함께하기를 바랍니다.
History will judge the era she served in. Sri Lanka will continue to argue about her role in it. But one fact remains uncontested: Julie Chung was present when history happened—and she did not look away.