Chinese President Xi meets Sri Lankan PM Amarasuriya, calls for stronger security collaboration

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 17:03:00 +0000

Chinese President Xi Jinping, fourth left, attends a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, fourth right, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on October 14, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and called for strengthening of cooperation in a host of sectors, including collaboration in law enforcement and security between the two countries. Xi told Amarasuriya that China is willing to jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with Sri Lanka and expand cooperation in fields such as port economy, modern agriculture, digital economy, green economy, and tourism.

Ms. Amarasuriya, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, took part in the international Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women on Monday and later held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and China’s top political advisor Wang Huning.

In his meeting with Ms. Amarasuriya, Mr. Xi called for strengthening cooperation in law enforcement and security, and resolutely crack down on cross-border gambling, fraud and other criminal activities, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

With increasing Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which included the acquisition of Hambantota port for a debt swap and rising numbers of its tourists, China is concerned about cross-border crimes, especially telecom frauds. Ms. Amarasuriya, for her part, said Sri Lanka actively supports and participates in the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, adding that the country is looking forward to deepening cooperation with China for fresh progress in its own development, the Xinhua report said.

In Ms. Amarasuriya’s talks with Chinese leaders, there was no reference to any discussion on the controversial research ships of China, which are regarded as spy ships by India visiting Sri Lankan ports.

India has flagged its concerns to Sri Lanka about the recurring visits of the Chinese vessels.

Recently, the Chinese Exim Bank has approved $500 million to build a portion of the Central Expressway’s Kadawatha-Meerigama section, which was abandoned during the 2022 economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The increase in interest rate from 2.5% to 3.5% on the $500 million loan provided by China’s EXIM Bank has come up for criticism in Sri Lanka.

In 2022, Sri Lanka announced its first sovereign default of its debt of about $46.9 billion, of which over 50% was owed to China.

The Island nation managed to tide over the crisis with $4 billion in assistance extended by India, followed by the IMF bailout package.

Ms. Amarasuriya is the second-highest-ranking Sri Lankan leader to visit China after the JVP-NPP-led government came to power in the 2024 Presidential election.

Earlier this year, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited Beijing, during which China offered to invest $3.7 billion in Sri Lanka to build a state-of-the-art oil refinery.

Published – October 14, 2025 10:33 pm IST

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Xi says wants to deepen BRI cooperation with Sri Lanka under new leader

admin — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 15:59:33 +0000

China’s President Xi Jinping. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday (September 23, 2024) said he hoped to broaden cooperation with Sri Lanka under his Belt and Road infrastructure initiative (BRI) as he congratulated the island nation’s new leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Mr. Dissanayake took his oath at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Monday, vowing to restore public faith in politics.

The country is emerging from a years-long economic collapse blamed partly on struggling high-debt Chinese mega-projects coordinated through the BRI, the massive infrastructure project that is a central pillar of Mr. Xi’s bid to expand his country’s clout overseas.

“I attach great importance to the development of China-Sri Lanka relations and am willing to work with Mr. President to continue our traditional friendship [and] enhance mutual political trust,” Mr. Xi said in a message to Mr. Dissanayake, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr. Xi said he hoped bilateral cooperation under his flagship BRI would “bear more fruit”, CCTV added.

He said Beijing would “promote the steady progress of sincere mutual assistance between China and Sri Lanka as well as our age-old strategic cooperative partnership, and create more benefits for the peoples of both countries”.

Western critics accuse China of using the BRI to enmesh developing nations in unsustainable debt to exert diplomatic leverage over them or even seize their assets.

But a chorus of leaders — as well as research by leading global think tanks like London’s Chatham House — have refuted the “debt trap” theory.

In December 2017, unable to repay a huge Chinese loan, Sri Lanka handed its Hambantota port in the south of the island to a Beijing company on a 99-year lease for $1.12 billion.

And the country defaulted on its foreign borrowings in 2022 during a crisis that caused months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

China is the nation’s largest bilateral creditor, its loans accounting for $4.66 billion of the $10.58 billion that Sri Lanka has borrowed from other countries.

Last year, the International Monetary Fund — the international lender of last resort — approved a $2.9 billion bailout loan for Sri Lanka. Beijing also agreed to restructure its loans to the country.

And this month, Sri Lanka secured a deal with international bondholders to finalise a prolonged debt restructuring.

Published – September 23, 2024 09:29 pm IST

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china sri lanka relations – Artifex.News

Chinese President Xi meets Sri Lankan PM Amarasuriya, calls for stronger security collaboration

Xi says wants to deepen BRI cooperation with Sri Lanka under new leader