In 2010, the all-round cooperative partnership featuring sincere mutual support and everlasting friendship between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka continued to enjoy in-depth growth.
The two countries conducted frequent high-level exchanges. In November, Special Envoy of President Hu Jintao and NPC Vice Chairman Sang Guowei visited Sri Lanka. He met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne and Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. In June, Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited Sri Lanka. He met with President Rajapaksa and Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, and had talks with Prime Minister Jayaratne. In November, Member of the CPC Central Committee and Party Secretary of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee Lu Hao visited Sri Lanka and met with Prime Minister Jayaratne, General Secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party Maithripala Sirisena and Deputy Leader of United National Party Karu Jayasuriya respectively. In September, Governor of Yunnan Province Qin Guangrong visited Sri Lanka and met with President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Jayaratne.
In October, President Rajapaksa attended the opening ceremony of the Summit Forum of the Shanghai World Expo and the closing ceremony of the Expo. Premier Wen Jiabao met with him. In July, Prime Minister Jayaratne attended the National Pavilion Day of Sri Lanka at the Shanghai Expo and the Poverty Alleviation Conference of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties in China, and took part in the group meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping. In August, Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris visited China. Vice Premier Li Keqiang met with him and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with him.
Smooth progress was made in economic cooperation and trade. China signed a total of US$5.699 billion of project contracting and labor cooperation contracts in Sri Lanka. The two countries continued to carry out cooperation in infrastructure and other fields. The projects of Puttalam Coal Power Plant, Hambantota Port and the National Performing Arts Theatre that China undertook to build in Sri Lanka were being implemented as scheduled and with high quality. On 17 November, Phase One of the Puttalam Coal Power Plant was completed and started to generate power. On 18 November, Special Envoy of President Hu Jintao and NPC Vice Chairman Sang Guowei attended, together with President, Prime Minister, Speaker and other leading figures of Sri Lanka, the inauguration ceremony for Phase One of the Hambantota Port and the launching ceremony for Phase Two of the project.
People-to-people exchanges as well as cultural and defense cooperation were further expanded. A number of Sri Lankan ministers visited China or the Shanghai Expo. In May, the first China Education Exhibition was held in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka. In June, a delegation of officials of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition started a study tour in China. In July and September, the air routes from Shanghai to Colombo and from Kunming to Colombo were opened respectively. In November, Minister of the State Administration for Religious Affairs Wang Zuo'an led a delegation to Sri Lanka. He attended the opening ceremony of the 25th World Buddhist Congress and the event marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the congress. He also attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Chinese Gallery of the International Buddhist Museum at the Temple of the Tooth Relic and the signing ceremony of the MOU between Beijing Lingguang Temple and Kandy Temple of Tooth Relic on the establishment of a friendly temple relationship. In December, Rear Admiral Wei Xueyi, Representative of the Commander of People's Liberation Army Navy General Wu Shengli and Chief of Staff of China's South China Sea fleet, led the missile destroyer "Guangzhou" to Sri Lanka to attend the activities in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Sri Lankan Navy.
The two sides continued to support each other on major issues. China reiterated on various occasions its understanding of and support to the effort of the Sri Lankan government to safeguard national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. It continued to provide assistance to Sri Lanka within its ability. The Sri Lankan government supported China's position on the Nobel Peace Prize given to Liu Xiaobo. In December, the spokesperson of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry stated that the Sri Lankan government would not send people to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony in Norway.(Last Update: 2011/08/22)