{"id":110757,"date":"2021-01-17T18:26:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T01:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110757"},"modified":"2021-01-17T18:26:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T01:26:05","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-partb2-c9h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/17\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-partb2-c9h\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Partb2 C9H"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

China, unlike\nIndia is getting on just fine in South Asia. China has held three multilateral\ndialogues with South Asian countries. The first in July, 2020 was attended by\nPakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. At this dialogue, China proposed extending the\nChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan, as well as taking\nforward an economic corridor plan with Nepal, called the Trans-Himalayan\nMulti-dimensional Connectivity Network. China said the four countries were connected\nby mountains and rivers\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dialogue\nwas followed by a second meeting in November 2020 attended by China, Pakistan,\nNepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The third dialogue was held virtually in January,\n2021.it brought together every country in the region except India, Bhutan and\nthe Maldives. Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh attended. Pakistan\nand Nepal are emerging as supports in China\u2019s regional strategy, observed\nanalysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s economy\ncontinues to be strong. Chinas trustbusters are investigating Alibaba. China now\nleads in e-commerce, said Economist. China has very advanced online shopping\nplatforms which blend digital payments, group deals, social media, gaming,\ninstant messaging, short form videos and live streaming celebrities. This model\nis followed in India and Latin America. Retailers everywhere should look to\nChina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s\nrelations with Sri Lanka are also excellent. China has minted a coin for the\nCentral Bank to celebrate its 70th anniversary. This is the first coin minted\nin China for Central Bank.  It was done\nby China Banknote Printing and Minting. It is a limited edition commemorative\n20-rupee Aluminum Bronze collector coin. The first coin was officially\npresented to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, by CB Governor Prof. W D Lakshman on\nDecember 31, 2020.  Some coins were sold\nto the public on January 1 for Rs.1300. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colombo\nbranch of the Bank of China is in its second year and it is doing well. A plan\nto start a second branch in Hambantota is on hold due to the pandemic. A major\nChinese bank was badly needed in view of the strong investment and trade\nrelations between our two countries. We have among our clientele some of the\nleading names of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also actively assist Sri Lankan companies to participate in\nmajor investment and export promotion fairs conducted in China, create match\nmaking\u201d links between local and Chinese companies, providing access to China\u2019s\nexport, import and the investment sources. Our assistance is also frequently\nsought and happily given to local Banks who need assistance with the Chinese\nlanguage when dealing with other Chinese financial institutions, said the Bank.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January\n2021, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong thanked Sri Lanka for standing by China\nduring the COVID-19 crisis and said that China was committed to helping Sri\nLanka overcome the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will never\nforget that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gifted Ceylon Tea to China, Prime\nMinister Mahinda Rajapaksa organized a pirit ceremony to invoke blessings on\nthe people of Wuhan, while all Sri Lankan friends from different religions and\nethnic groups have been praying for China, the ambassador said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\ndeclared the people of China and Sri Lanka have a history of friendly\nexchanges for nearly two thousand years and thus the two countries have the\nability conduct relations without the interference of a third party. The two\ncountries could continue strengthening strategic communication, expanding\npractical cooperation, and jointly bringing China-Sri Lanka relations to a\nhigher level in the years to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China also\nsaid it had no problem with Sri Lanka having diplomatic relations with other\ncountries. As a sincere friend of the Sri Lankan people, China is happy to see\nthe island developing healthy relations with other countries. China believes\nthat all countries, regardless of size, have the right to independently develop\nforeign relations based on their own interests.(continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS China, unlike India is getting on just fine in South Asia. China has held three multilateral dialogues with South Asian countries. The first in July, 2020 was attended by Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. At this dialogue, China proposed extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan, as well as taking forward an economic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}