China-friendly associations join hands to celebrate historic bilateral relations

Text and pix by Harsha Udayakantha Peiris

A special photographic exhibition organised by the Sri Lanka-China Friendship Association together with the Sri Lanka-China Society, Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation and Sri Lanka-China Journalists’ Forum, in collaboration with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka, was held on 10 July 2012 at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Hall of the BMICH in Colombo.

The function had been organised in commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka-China Rubber Rice Pact.

Sri Lanka and China enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges and the two peoples started cultural exchanges and trade contacts through religious links and the Silk Route as far back as 1,000 years ago.

On 7 February 1957, China and Sri Lanka established the formal diplomatic relations, opening a new chapter of friendly cooperation between the two countries. During the last 55 years, the two Governments and the two nations have always followed the five principles of peaceful coexistence, abided by equality and mutual trust, sincere treatment, mutual respect and mutual help.

During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Sri Lanka in April 2005, the two countries announced the establishment of a comprehensive cooperation partnership, based on genuine solidarity and an everlasting friendship.

In September 2011, Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne announced that China has become Sri Lanka’s largest partner of development cooperation. During the past the two countries have also continued to expand their cooperation in culture, education and many spheres of socioeconomic importance.

With the naming of 2007 as the ‘Sino-Sri Lanka Friendship Year,’ the two countries jointly sponsored a number of socio-cultural activities that vividly expressed the common aspiration of the two Governments and peoples to further strengthen a good neighbourly friendship and mutually-beneficial cooperation.

Together these activities opened new avenues and opportunities to develop stronger bilateral ties whilst China providing Sri Lanka with selfless humanitarian aid at many occasions and especially at the tsunami devastation. The exchanges between the two countries have strengthened the in-depth development of bilateral relations between China and Sri Lanka.

During the past half a century and more, under common concern and promotion by the generations of leaders between the two countries, Sri Lanka and China have brought broad areas of cooperation with positive results that express South-South cooperation.