Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday congratulated Dinesh Gunawardena on assuming office as Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

In his congratulatory message, Wang said China and Sri Lanka have always treated each other with respect and equality since the establishment of their diplomatic relationship 62 years ago, and have formed a strategic cooperative partnership that features sincerity, mutual assistance and generations of friendship.

The two nations, under the guidance of high-level exchanges and on the platform of the Belt and Road Initiative, have actively expanded their cooperation and seen more frequent people-to-people exchanges, which have yielded fruitful results in recent years, Wang said.

Wang also said that he would like to join efforts with Gunawardena to consolidate the traditional friendship between both countries, enhance communication and cooperation in various fields, and make contributions to better development of China-Sri Lanka relations.

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Symbolic swearing-in for Sri Lanka's new president

Sri Lanka held its presidential election last Saturday. Former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was declared the winner by the election committee last Sunday. He won 52.25 percent of the votes, while his main rival and government minister Sajith Premadasa received 41.99 percent.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Dinesh Gunawardena (R) holds papers from Sri Lanka's new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after being sworn-in as minister of foreign affairs during the ministerial swearing-in ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 22, 2019. /VCG Photo)