To celebrate the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Sri Lanka and the People's Republic of China and also the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued gold and silver commemorative coins. The coins have been issued at the request of the government of Sri Lanka as an accolade to the long-standing friendship and mutual trust between the two countries.

I read about ties between both nations for the first time at the age of 10 as a primary school student. Later, in my teenage years, I began buying bi-monthly Chinese pictorial magazines to read. I was fascinated by China, its history and culture, inter-mingled with that of Sri Lanka. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to study in China for a short period in 1998 and to see the China I had read about. 18 years after the first occasion, I had the privilege to study in China again in 2016. On these two occasions I was able to visit Kunming, Chengdu, Nanjing, Changshu, Henan, Huzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.

I witnessed the great changes that had taken place within nearly two decades, with the economic, social and cultural development that China has achieved. In line with the ideals of the Communist Party of China, which was founded in 1921, whose unique mission to play a leading role in the socio-economic development of the country now stands as strong as the Great Wall and sets an exemplary message to many countries around the world. There are innumerable international and national organizations that have sprung up in the last century of world history. At such an era, the Chinese Communist Party proudly celebrated its 100th birthday with great pomp and ceremony among the people of the world who had faced two worst world wars. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who stood proudly in front of the citizens of his country on that special occasion, is an example to other world leaders.

As a follower of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksha, who has a vision and mission for Sri Lanka, I admire President Xi as one of the most influential national leaders who has guided his people through the straightforward vision in the face of evil forces, both local and international. From the Party earliest days to the current leadership of President Xi, the example of Chinese leaders to the world is excellent. Moreover, China has a long history of being the only country in the world to put socialism for logical practice.

It is astonishing how the activists of the Chinese Communist Party have always been committed to its core essence and have worked tirelessly for decades for the revival of the Chinese nation. Agriculture is the foundation of the Chinese economy. With the development of agricultural machinery, sub industries have achieved great successes and become a country that produces huge amount of agricultural machinery in the world. China has won the struggle against poverty through agricultural mechanization. The secret of its success is the legal framework the Chinese Communist Party actively created with the discipline, honesty and commitment. Before 2012, the Central Committee of the Communist Party began to prioritize the improvement of the health of the people in order to initiate the modernization of the health sector in country. Furthermore, President Xi extended it with the concept "No one can prosper without health." He has prioritized improving the health of the people and taken an important decision in taking the initiative for a healthier China. Thirty-five years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the average life expectancy of the Chinese people has risen to 77.3 years as a result.

It reflects China's brilliant approach to controlling the COVID-19 epidemic and reviving the economy and its efforts to protect the people. To be successful in this effort, the country's leading two pharmaceutical companies have launched two anti-epidemic vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm. So far, Hundreds of millions of doses of these vaccines have been shipped to more than 80 countries. The Chinese used drones in disaster relief and evacuation work to allow people trapped in flooded areas as well as in preventing COVID-19.

The entire country has contributed to the promotion of provincial infrastructure to maintain a prosperous rural area with the largest and modern six major expressways covering a distance of 160,000 km. With high-tech engineering bridges and tunnels, these constructions testify to the vision of the Chinese geological engineers and civil engineers and the unwavering commitment of their employees. On July 20, 2021, China unveiled the world's first high-speed maglev train with a maximum speed of 600 km/h, built with self-made power as its latest exercise, at a manufacturing plant in Qingdao, Shandong province.

China has faced many international and domestic threats since the 1950s. Nevertheless, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to carry out the policy of reform that began 40 years ago. China has succeeded in creating more than 60 million jobs in China between 2016 and 2020 under the domestic and foreign challenges. At the centenary celebrations, the current leadership of the Communist Party of China further emphasized that the guarantee of China's long-term economic development and social stability.

The various international conspiracies against China's will gather pace in the future. Their hope and ambition is to push China the way Soviet Union collapsed, the way Yugoslavia was torn apart, or Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan were destroyed. But, in the centenary celebrations on the subtle political analysis of the Chinese president has given a clear answer to all these theorists. It is the duty of China's eternal friends to act in such a way to defeat such invisible evil forces. At the end of 2020, through years of hard work, China achieved the goal of eliminating extreme poverty. It was a key goal for the new era of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Following the founding of the People's Republic of China by Chairman Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949, the leader of the Communist Party of China is proud to announce at a press conference on the occasion of its 100th anniversary that the country's per capita national income has now surpassed $10,000 after a long period of hard work.

China's proposed Belt and Road Initiative has redefined the Silk Road Economic Belt. Accordingly, a network of high-speed rail and fuel pipelines will be established between those countries on the link of the Silk Road Economic Belt. On the other hand, under the Maritime Silk Road Initiative, China is focusing on developing major south Asian ports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
At the same time, the BRI energy security will help China diversify its energy sources by giving more access to Russian and Iranian oil and gas along the same path. This will be achieved by connecting Russia and Central Asia with fuel pipeline networks. However, due to the risk of power outages in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, the Chinese government has stepped in to develop the Port City of Colombo, the Port of Hambantota and the operation of port facilities in the Indian Ocean. This will ensure the maintenance of a critical sea route without the risk of access to power supplies from the Middle East. It reflects the scale of China's contribution to global leadership for bilateral and multilateral cooperation between countries in building trade and investment zones for collective development.

"We must protect nature as we protect our eyes, we must protect the environment, we must strive to create a new relationship in which people and nature can live in prosperity and harmony. When we are more prosperous, we must not allow pollutants. We need both green GDP and we owe a lot to the environment," President Xi said. China is aware of the situation. China is once again pointing out to the world that the nation is a true pioneer in the global process of environmental conservation. That will enable the Chinese Communist Party to make a greater contribution to building pollution free atmosphere for the world.

The author has worked as a farm mechanical instructor over the past 30 years at the Department of Agriculture in Sri Lanka and is a freelance writer for leading National Level (Sinhala) newspapers and magazines in Sri Lanka.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

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