Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa received China’s newly appointed Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Wei Huaxiang, at his Colombo residence on Wednesday morning, Hiru News reported.
Rajapaksa congratulated the Ambassador, who formally assumed duties after presenting his credentials on 25 August. Sagara Kariyawasam, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, also attended.
The Ambassador gave Rajapaksa a book of traditional Chinese paintings, and the former President thanked him for it, saying it offered a deeper understanding of Chinese civilisation. Rajapaksa reflected on what Hiru describes as the friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries, and thanked the Chinese state for its embrace of Sri Lankan culture.
A courtesy round, and its sequence
The meeting continues the introductory calls Wei has been making since taking up the post. He met JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva on 1 September, reaching the governing National People’s Power’s parent party first and the principal opposition-aligned former President eight days later.
The timing is the detail Hiru does not draw out. The call took place on the morning of the second day of Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit — the first by an Indian Defence Minister in 38 years — during which India and Sri Lanka exchanged three defence agreements and Singh proposed a joint maritime domain awareness system for the Indian Ocean.
Chinese port and infrastructure investment in Sri Lanka, much of it made during Rajapaksa’s presidency, is the standing subject of Indian security concern that those agreements sit against. Neither the Chinese Embassy nor the SLPP has published a readout beyond the Hiru account.
Not reported
Hiru does not say how long the meeting lasted, whether any specific bilateral matter was discussed, or whether Wei has requested or held meetings with other party leaders. It does not report any comment on the Indian defence agreements signed in Colombo the same day. No other newsroom had filed on the meeting; Ada Derana was returning a domain-wide CloudFront 403 while this was written.
