Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, will visit Sri Lanka next month, Daily Mirror reported. He will be the third senior official to visit Sri Lanka in recent months. 

Last week, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe paid a visit to the island nation and held talks with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The countries discussed the ways to increase defense cooperation.

Last year, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee had also paid a visit to Colombo for bilateral discussions.

Significantly, China and Sri Lanka last month had signed a currency exchange agreement worth $1.5 billion.  

The planned visit comes after the foreign minister last week addressed a virtual meeting with his counterparts of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. He discussed, among others, cooperation on the containment of COVID-19 and poverty alleviation.

Importantly, opposition parties in the island nation have been protesting against a controversial Colombo port city bill, alleging the bill, if enacted, would turn the city into a “Chinese colony”. The government, however, defended the bill, saying it would facilitate foreign direct investment.