Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena will visit China in March, announced China’s Special Representative of the Chinese President and assistant Foreign Minister, Liu Jianchao, after a meeting with Sirisena in Colombo.

Mr Jianchoa, currently on a two day official visit to Sri Lanka, delivered a congratulatory message to the new Sri Lankan president and welcomed the new government’s decision to continue with the ‘Port City’ development project, reports Colombo Page.

The Sri Lankan government announced on Thursday that the Chinese-run Port City project will continue, after a cabinet meeting on the issue.

The project was reviewed by the new government along with several others initiated by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

State-owned China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) had defended the project, saying all procedures of the procurement regulations were followed before the deal was signed with the previous government.

Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, in a message to mark Chinese new year on Wednesday, pledged to “deepen strategic cooperation” with the Chinese government, reports Xinhua.

In his address, Sirisena said,

“Looking back at 2014, I am pleased that the historic state visit to Sri Lanka of Chinese President Xi Jinping in September last year has provided us with the opportunity to further evaluate our robust relationship and deepen the strategic cooperative partnership in a manner beneficial to our two countries peoples.”

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sri Lanka on its independence day and said he looked forward to welcoming President Maithripala Sirisena later this month.

"On their Independence Day, my greetings to people of Sri Lanka. The bonds of history, culture and shared values that we share are unbreakable,” the prime minister tweeted.

"My best wishes for the development of Sri Lanka in the years to come. I look forward to welcoming President Sirisena later this month."

A senior commander of Sri Lanka’s armed forces, Shavendra Silva, who is thought to be responsible for committing mass atrocities, has been accepted to study at India’s National Defence College (NDC) in Dheli, reports jdslanka.

A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councillor in the Northern Province, Thurairasa Ravikaran was interrogated by the Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday, reports Uthayan.

Mr Ravikaran was stopped by navy personnel and questionned after being accused by the officers of possessing military equipment.

He was returning home after distributing school equipment to orphaned school children at the Mullaitivu Redbaana Bharathi Vidyalayam.

"This incident shows the increase of military oppression in the North. The identification of school equipment as military equipment is completely unacceptable," Mr Ravikaran told the Uthayan, stating that he had expressed his condemnation of the sham exercise to the officers directly.

Tamil National Alliance MP P Ariyanenthiran stated Tamils in Sri Lanka still suffer at the hands of state security forces despite the change in government, adding that the situation was “not yet conducive for diaspora Tamils to return”.

His comments come after the arrest of two Tamils at Colombo airport this week, who were returning from the Middle East to visit their families.