Ranil Wickremesinghe, a lawyer who served as Sri Lanka's prime minister a record six times, was sworn in on Thursday in the face of fierce public opposition.
Sri Lanka's crisis sparked months of mass protests and eventually forced then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. In his message, Xi said he believes Sri Lanka will be able to move towards economic and social recovery and he is"ready to provide support and assistance to the best of my ability to President Wickremesinghe and the people of Sri Lanka in their efforts", CCTV reported.
Sri Lanka owes at least US$5bil to China although some estimates put it at almost twice that amount. India has also lent it US$3.8bil and Japan is owed at least US$3.5bil , according to the International Monetary Fund, with another US$1bil due to other rich countries. Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency. Security forces raided and partially cleared a protest camp occupying government grounds in Colombo on Friday, fuelling fears that Wickremesinghe had launched a crackdown a day after being sworn in.
He actually saying he wants to take advantage of the Sri Lanka situation to benefit his CCP