The Sri Lankan army announced that China has completed its construction of an auditorium for the military this week, in yet another Chinese-funded project on the island.
The auditorium, a reportedly state-of-the art building that can seat 785 officers, was constructed in the garrison town of Diyatalawa, for the Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA).
An official military website said the construction was “a gift from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China” and called it a “symbol of the long-lasting friendship between both countries as well as the armies”.
Sri Lanka’s president attended the opening ceremony alongside other high ranking Chinese diplomatic and military officials.
The auditorium is one of several Chinese funded projects on the island, with China providing loans for large scale investment projects. Last year, the United States expressed concerned over Sri Lanka's "unsustainable debt burden" from China's non-concessional loans.
China’s involvement in various construction projects has seen fierce protests by locals in the south, with several injured last year regarding the proposed eviction of thousands of villagers from a planned Chinese development of a port in Hambantota.