{"id":31570,"date":"2014-07-05T23:45:48","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T03:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=31570"},"modified":"2014-07-05T23:45:48","modified_gmt":"2014-07-06T03:45:48","slug":"chinas-president-xi-jinping-to-visit-sri-lanka-this-year-becoming-first-chinese-head-of-state-to-do-so-in-three-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=31570","title":{"rendered":"China’s President Xi Jinping to Visit Sri Lanka this year Becoming First Chinese Head of State to do so in Three Decades."},"content":{"rendered":"

BY
\nMEERA SRINIVASAN&ANANTH KRISHNAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

China\u2019s President Xi Jinping will this year become the first Chinese head of state to visit Sri Lanka in three decades, underlining Beijing\u2019s renewed push to deepen its strategic and economic presence in the neighbourhood and in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

Mr. Xi\u2019s visit was discussed in Beijing this week as Sri Lankan Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, as the President\u2019s Special Envoy, met with the Chinese leadership.<\/p>\n

The Chinese leader will become the first President to visit Sri Lanka since former leader Li Xiannian in 1986. His visit assumes significance in the context of strengthening ties between the two countries, with China investing heavily in the island nation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A $500 million- built port built by the Chinese was inaugurated in Colombo last year giving Beijing a strong foothold in one of the busiest international shipping routes in the world. With heavy investment in infrastructure, including in a massive port it helped build in Hambantota along Sri Lanka\u2019s southern coast, China is said to have surpassed Japan and India as the biggest contributor to investments in the island nation.<\/p>\n

\u2018The China card\u2019
\nForeign policy experts have often pointed to Sri Lanka playing the \u201cChina card\u201d against India, which has invested in some key projects in the neighbouring country, including a massive housing project targeting 50,000 homes in the war-torn north that it is currently engaged in.<\/p>\n

For Chinese President Xi, Sri Lanka has become a particularly important country as a crucial point on his government\u2019s signature \u201cmaritime silk road\u201d economic initiative, which the President unveiled in October in a bid to boost maritime connectivity and economic ties in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Mr. Xi is likely to stop in Colombo as he visits India later this year.<\/p>\n

Pakistan is also an expected destination, according to analysts, as Chinese leaders usually do not visit India without stopping in Pakistan subsequently, as Premier Li Keqiang did last year. Mr. Li\u2019s visit to India last May was his first overseas visit after taking office.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang discussed with Sri Lankan Minister Basil Rajapaksa on-going talks over a free trade agreement. He called on both sides \u201cto begin negotiation on their proposed free trade agreement as soon as possible, encourage Chinese enterprises to expand investment in Sri Lanka and strengthen the strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries\u201d, the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wang also said that the upcoming visit by Mr. Xi would be \u201ca diplomatic landmark\u201d for both countries, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing quoted him as saying in a statement.<\/p>\n

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa hailed China\u2019s contribution to Sri Lanka\u2019s development, telling Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng that Colombo was willing to fast track free trade negotiations with China emerging as \u201cthe largest single development partner\u201d. He also noted that there was a 140 per cent increase in tourist arrivals from China in the past year.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MEERA SRINIVASAN&ANANTH KRISHNAN China\u2019s President Xi Jinping will this year become the first Chinese head of state to visit Sri Lanka in three decades, underlining Beijing\u2019s renewed push to deepen its strategic and economic presence in the neighbourhood and in the Indian Ocean. Mr. Xi\u2019s visit was discussed in Beijing this week as Sri …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘China’s President Xi Jinping to Visit Sri Lanka this year Becoming First Chinese Head of State to do so in Three Decades.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31571,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31570\/revisions\/31571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}