China backs SL over US rights complaint

11 February 2014 06:10 pm Views - 6545

China's Foreign Minister has offered support for Sri Lanka after the US said it would table a UN resolution against Colombo over its human rights record.

"China opposes some countries' interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka under the pretext of human rights issues," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Sri Lankan counterpart G. L. Peiris in Beijing.

China backs the Sri Lankan government in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, Wang said, according to China's Foreign Ministry.
"We believe in the Sri Lankan people's wisdom and capacity to handle their own affairs," Wang added.

Sri Lanka this month rejected US criticism of its human rights record as "grossly disproportionate", after a senior US official said Washington would table a UN.resolution against the country.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which finally crushed a 26-year rebellion by ethnic minority Tamil separatists in 2009, has rejected calls for an international inquiry into atrocities during the civil war.

China has increasingly tight ties with Sri Lanka, funding airports, roads, railways and ports, which has unsettled India, traditionally Sri Lanka's closest economic partner.(Arab News)