On August 9, 2020, Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory message to Mahinda Rajapaksa on his assuming office as the new Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Li Keqiang said in his message that China and Sri Lanka enjoy a traditional friendship. Recent years have seen prosperous development of our strategic partnership, which features sincere mutual help and time-honored friendship, and broadening and deepening of bilateral practical cooperation in various fields. In particular, the Chinese and Sri Lankan governments and peoples have been supporting each other through sick and thin in the joint combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has consolidated and elevated our friendship.

Li Keqiang noted, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has always stayed committed to promoting China-Sri Lanka friendship. The Chinese side attaches great importance to developing relations with Sri Lanka, and is willing to consolidate traditional friendship with the Sri Lankan side, deepen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, and promote faster development of China-Sri Lanka relations to better benefit the two countries and peoples.