Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Friday to Ranil Wickremesinghe on his election as president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

In his message, Xi pointed out that China and Sri Lanka are each other’s traditional friendly neighbors. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 65 years ago, the two countries have always promoted the development of bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and set an example of friendly interactions and mutually beneficial cooperation between large and small countries, he said.