National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa met the new Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Wei Huaxiang, at the Chinese Embassy in Colombo on Friday, at the Ambassador’s invitation, Hiru News reported.
The two sides held extensive exchanges of views on Sri Lanka’s current political situation and on the historical friendship between Sri Lanka and China, according to the National Freedom Front media unit, which is the source of the account.
NFF Politburo member Dr. Supun Anuruddha Jayasinghe also attended.
Context
Wei Huaxiang arrived in Sri Lanka in August and has since held a series of meetings across the Sri Lankan political and official spectrum, including with the Defence Secretary and the Prime Minister on education cooperation.
What distinguishes this meeting is that it is with an opposition party leader rather than a government officeholder, and that the invitation came from the embassy. The National Freedom Front sits outside the governing coalition; Weerawansa holds no ministerial position in the current administration.
The account of the meeting comes from the NFF’s own media unit rather than from the embassy, so the characterisation of what was discussed is the party’s.
Not reported
The filing does not say what was said about Sri Lanka’s political situation, whether any specific policy, project or Chinese investment was raised, or how long the meeting lasted. It carries no statement from the Chinese Embassy confirming the meeting or its own account of it, and no indication of whether the Ambassador is holding similar meetings with other opposition parties. It does not say whether the NFF sought the meeting beforehand, and gives no comment from the Government or the Foreign Ministry.
