China’s foreign minister said Beijing “will not allow any outside influences to interfere with matters that are essentially internal concerns of Sri Lanka,” after meeting with Sri Lanka’s president in Colombo earlier today.
"As Sri Lanka's strategic partner, China will continue to stand by Sri Lanka's interests," said Foreign Minister of the Peoples’ Republic of China Wang Yi.
"China stands for the country's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. We will not allow any outside influences to interfere with matters that are essentially internal concerns of Sri Lanka," Wang said. "China and Sri Lanka are strategic cooperative partners with sincere mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship built upon a long tradition of friendly exchanges. Recent years has seen fruitful cooperation under the Belt and Road framework.
"China stands ready to work with Sri Lanka's new administration to carry forward the traditional friendship, strengthen political mutual trust, dovetail development strategies and bring bilateral relations to new heights," Wang added.
His meeting with Gotabaya Rajapaksa today is the first of a senior Chinese official with the Sri Lankan president since his election victory in November last year.
His visit to Sri Lanka coincides with the visits of senior US, Russian and Japanese officials.
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