China will always stand by Sri Lanka – envoy

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong said that they sincerely hoped that Sri Lanka could maintain unity and stability and that China will continue to offer support.”China and Sri Lanka are friends helping each other, treating each other with respect and trust, and good partners in mutually beneficial cooperation. Sri Lanka is confronted with an economic crisis, bringing inconvenience to people’s daily life and sometimes social instability. We feel the same as our Sri Lankan friends during this trying time,” Zhenhong said.He added that to help Sri Lanka overcome the current difficulties, the Chinese government has decided to provide RMB 500 million (approximately USD 76 million) of emergency humanitarian assistance. The International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Yunnan Province and other local governments, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, the Red Cross Society of China and even pupils from the Caihe No.3 Primary School in Hangzhou also lend a hand.

“Sri Lanka has a long history of civilization and its people are of great wisdom. We sincerely hope that Sri Lanka could maintain unity and stability and will continue to offer support within our capabilities. We believe that Sri Lanka will definitely be able to get out of the immediate predicament and achieve economic and social stability and development at an early date,” he said. The Ambassador added that COVID-19 is still spreading and geopolitical conflicts are intensifying. Due to this the industrial and supply chains have been disrupted and contradiction between the supply and demand of bulk commodities has become prominent.

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently lowered its forecast for world economic growth in 2022 to 3.6%. The Chinese economy is also faced with some difficulties, but its fundamentals, which will sustain stable and long-term growth and are characterized by strong resilience, enormous potential and broad space, remain unchanged,” he said.The Chinese government has stepped up the implementation of macro policies and strengthened cross- and counter-cyclical adjustments; actively implemented measures to stabilize employment, protect people’s livelihood, expand consumption, and promote investment; deepened reform and expanded opening up, providing a solid guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of the domestic economy and a strong support for world economic recovery, he said.