File picture of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
| Photo Credit: PTI
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit China from January 14 to 17, the Cabinet Spokesman announced on Tuesday (January 7, 2025), confirming the Sri Lankan leader’s second state visit abroad, a month after he visited India.
President Dissanayake will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism Vijitha Herath, and Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation Bimal Rathnayake, Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa told media. Debt treatment and bilateral development cooperation are among key issues expected to be discussed in Beijing.
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Mr. Dissanayake’s visit to China marks his second major bilateral engagement after he rose to the country’s top office in September. In November, his National People’s Power [NPP] coalition swept the polls with an unprecedented two-thirds majority and soon after, Mr. Dissanayake undertook his first state visit abroad to India.
The NPP’s chief constituent, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), which Mr. Dissanayake leads, has Marxist-Leninist roots and a history of opposing India, prompting many to describe it as a pro-China party. However, the JVP has sought to refashion itself in the last decade, in a bid to widen its appeal while retaining its traditional base. Further, Mr. Dissanayake and the NPP have pledged to follow a non-aligned foreign policy that prioritises Sri Lanka’s national interests. Regardless of the party in power in Sri Lanka, all past governments have maintained cordial and close ties with China, widely seen by Sri Lankans as a long-term ally, both in bilateral cooperation and at multilateral fora including UN bodies.
‘Buoyant ties with India’
Meanwhile, addressing Colombo-based media on Tuesday (January 7, 2025), Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha said India opened the year “being extremely positive and buoyant” about its Sri Lanka partnership. President Dissanayake’s recent visit added “renewed vigour” to ties, and deliberations have put the relationship on a “higher plane”, he said. Outlining highlights of the Sri Lankan President’s December visit to India, including ongoing discussions on possible collaboration in the energy sector and connectivity, he said with India’s recent move to convert some of its earlier loans to Sri Lanka into grants, the total grant assistance stood at $ 780 million.
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Research vessel visit
Asked if India held any further discussion with the Sri Lankan government on Chinese research vessels, after Colombo’s moratorium on foreign research ships expired, and following Mr. Dissanayake’s visit, Mr. Jha said: “We have not had any further discussions.” Pointing to President Dissanayake’s “categorical” statement in India, as well as the NPP’s election manifesto, the Indian High Commissioner said: “We take Sri Lanka for its word… we completely trust Sri Lanka to take the right actions in that regard.”
Following his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 16, 2024, President Dissanayake had said in a statement to the media in New Delhi: “I assured the Indian leader that Sri Lanka will not permit its territory to be used in any manner inimical to the security of India as well as towards regional stability,” reiterating the NPP’s position. Sri Lanka “attaches great importance to the continuous development and deepening of cooperation with India”, he had said.
New Delhi has remained highly sensitive to the visit of Chinese research vessels that it believes are essentially spy ships and, on multiple occasions, raised concern with Mr. Dissanayake’s predecessor government, prompting Colombo to introduce a moratorium. The Dissanayake government has said it will address the matter diplomatically and take decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Days after he returned from India last month, President Dissanayake met with Qin Boyong, vice-chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Ms. Qin stated that “there are plans to restart maritime research activities, which were temporarily halted for various reasons”, the Presidential Media Division said in a statement then.
Published – January 07, 2025 10:24 pm IST
