To stem Sri Lanka’s lurch towards the West, Japan and India, as seen most recently in President Maithripala Sirisena’s presence at the G-7 summit in Japan and the attention he got from the world leaders assembled there, China’s President Xi Jinping has invited Sirisena to make a second visit to Beijing.
Lankan cabinet minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told the media that the Chinese President has invited Sirisena, and that the latter has accepted the invitation “to further strengthen Lanka’s relations with China.” Sirisena had last visited Beijing a year ago in March 2015.
And it was only in April this year, that Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe had visited Beijing and apparently smoothened the many rough edges in Sino-Lankan relations.
-NIE
-Agencies
