Sri Lankan President Dissanayake arrives in Beijing on 4-day visit to China as India watches keenly

Beijing/Colombo: Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day visit during which he is scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders on deepening bilateral ties.

Upon his arrival, the President was accorded a ceremonial welcome by the Chinese military, and he was formally received by China's Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong, according to a press release issued by Disanayake’s office in Colombo.

This is Disanayake's second overseas visit - the first being to India - since assuming office in September last year.

During his China visit, Dissanayake will hold bilateral talks with President Xi on areas of mutual interest and will also meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Zhao Leji.

Several Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between Sri Lanka and China are expected to be signed during the visit, the Presidential office press release said on Tuesday.

During this state visit, Dissanayake is scheduled to participate in several key engagements and undertake field visits focused on technological and agricultural development, as well as initiatives aimed at poverty alleviation.

The visit also includes high-level business meetings and discussions, it said.

"The visit to the People's Republic of China will further strengthen the longstanding ties between the two countries," the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said earlier.

A host of issues, including permitting Chinese research vessels, regarded as spy ships by India; Sri Lanka's debt commitments to China, stated to be Colombo's largest creditor and expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments are expected to figure in Dissanayake's talks with Xi.

Sri Lanka expects the visit to result in the digitisation of Sri Lanka's two state TV channels - Rupavahini and ITN.

Sri Lanka would also seek Chinese assistance to complete the central expressway, which has been stalled for over a decade, the media division of the Sri Lanka President's Office here said in a press release earlier.

The talks would also cover the Chinese industrial zone around the southern port of Hambantota.

Qin Boyong, a top Chinese official who visited Dissanayake immediately upon his return from Delhi in December, said the Chinese companies were eagerly waiting to set themselves up for business at Hambantota.

Dissanayake, once a bitter critic of India, chose Delhi for his first visit abroad. During his visit to India in December, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dissanayake assured New Delhi that Colombo would not permit its territory to be used in a manner that is detrimental to the interest of India, in an apparent reference to China.

China, which expanded its strategic ties with Sri Lanka during the pro-Beijing leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickramasinghe with the acquisition of Hambantota port for 99 years' lease as a debt swap followed by the development of Colombo Port City project, Dissanayake is a new generation leader representing new realities of his island nation.

A high-level delegation, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath, and the Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation Bimal Rathnayake, has accompanied him to China.