China, Lanka vow to deepen co-operation

China and Sri Lanka have pledged to deepen pragmatic co-operation in all fields to further develop the strategic partnership between the two countries.The pledge was made when Chinese top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng held talks with Sri Lankan leaders recently.Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), visited the island country from Thursday to Sunday at the invitation of Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.While meeting with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Yu said China and Sri Lanka are traditional good neighbours and their peoples have enjoyed long history of exchanges, Xinhua reports.Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, China and Sri Lanka have supported each other on the issues concerning their core and significant interests, with mutual beneficial co-operation bringing substantial benefits to the peoples of the two sides, the Chinese top political adviser said.The leaders of the two countries have jointly mapped out the strategic plans for developing the China-Sri Lanka ties, and the two countries should take the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders, maintain high-level exchanges, deepen political trust, connect development strategies of the two countries, boost people to people exchanges, consolidate the friendly public opinions in the two countries so as to push forward the strategic co-operative partnership between the two sides, Yu said.For his part, Sirisena said Sri Lanka and China have enjoyed long history of friendship.China has supported Sri Lanka in peace realisation and economic recovery, the president said.As the development of bilateral ties has entered a new stage, Sri Lanka will continue to uphold the one China policy and is looking forward to maintaining frequent high-level exchanges, deepen and broaden economic and trade co-operation and strengthen co-ordination and co-operation with China in international affairs, he added.