Xi congratulates new Sri Lankan President Dissanayake

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Sri Lanka's new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake soon after he was sworn in on Monday.

Popularly known as AKD, 56-year-old Marxist leader Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's ninth president by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. He defeated his



closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in Saturday's election.

Official media here reported that Xi, 71, congratulated Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party's broader front National People's Power (NPP), soon after his swearing-in.