BEIJING — Premier Li Keqiang on Aug 9 extended his congratulations to Mahinda Rajapaksa on the latter's assuming office as Sri Lanka's new prime minister.

Premier Li said in his congratulatory message that China and Sri Lanka enjoy traditional friendship, and recent years have seen their strategic partnership developing vigorously, which features sincere mutual help and time-honored friendship, and their practical cooperation in various fields constantly broadening and deepening.

In particular, Premier Li said, the Chinese and Sri Lankan governments and people have been looking out for each other and sharing weal and woe in the joint combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has consolidated and elevated their friendship.

Premier Li pointed out that Prime Minister Rajapaksa has been long committed to promoting the friendship between the two countries.

Noting that China attaches great importance to developing relations with Sri Lanka, Premier Li said that China is willing to consolidate its traditional friendship with Sri Lanka, deepen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, and promote faster development of China-Sri Lanka relations to better benefit the two countries and peoples.