High-powered Chinese delegation whisked away on arrival at BIA

The 26-member higher-powered Chinese delegation, which arrived in Colombo on Thursday night, was whisked away under a tight security escort.

Our Airport Correspondent says the VVIP Lounge was declared out of bounds to journalists and no photographs of the visiting delegation were allowed.

The delegation, which arrived aboard a special flight BJN099 from Beijing at 7.40 pm, was welcomed by State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage and senior Chinese Embassy officials in Colombo.

However, as soon as the members of the delegation emerged from the VVIP Lounge, they were ushered into a convoy of waiting vehicles and driven away under security escort, our BIA correspondent said.

Under normal circumstances all visitors to Sri Lanka must quarantine for 14 days. However, members of the visiting Chinese delegation were not placed under quarantine as they had undergone a PCR test prior to arriving in Sri Lanka, Health Minister, Pavithra Wanniarachchi said.

The delegation, led by former Chinese Foreign Minister and incumbent Communist Party Political Bureau Member, Yang Jiechi, met with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday before leaving for Beijing later in the evening.

Being the first ever Chinese visit in the South Asian region, since the global Corona epidemic, the visit is expected to strengthen cooperation between Sri Lanka and China, in the areas of combating the global pandemic and revival of economic relations, the Foreign Relations Ministry said.

The travel bubble set up for the purpose of this important visit will confine the delegation to Colombo and restrict their engagements to just two meetings with the Head of State and the Prime Minister, under the strict health protocol prescribed by the Ministry of Health, it added.