China will keep supporting Sri Lanka to achieve debt sustainability as it has always been doing to help the country’s socioeconomic development, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing today (June 19).

Spokesman Lin Jian made the following remarks at a regular press conference in response to a media question about the recent diplomatic consultations between China and Sri Lanka in the Chinese capital.

Bloomberg: China and Sri Lanka just held diplomatic consultations in Beijing. Have those talks resulted in progress on a final agreement with China Exim Bank or on an in-principle deal with China Development Bank?

Lin Jian: On the 13th round of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic consultations, China has released a readout, which you may refer to.

What I can tell you is that the Chinese side has been providing assistance to Sri Lanka’s socioeconomic development to the best of our capability. We stand ready to continue to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to support Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability. On your specific question, I’d refer you to competent authorities.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) issued a statement today reaffirming its commitment to upholding the rule of law and safeguarding judicial independence.

This comes in response to a recent statement made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament yesterday, regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Gender Equality Bill.

The BASL reiterated that the President’s statement is a threat to the Supreme Court and the entire judicial system in discharging the judicial functions conferred by the Constitution.

The BASL maintained that establishing a parliamentary select committee to review the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of a Bill would set a dangerous precedent.

The BASL strongly viewed that recent parliamentary statement by President Ranil Wickremesinghe referring to ‘Judicial Cannibalism’ and suggesting the formation of a select committee to review the Supreme Court’s determination as attempts to undermine judicial independence and force through a Bill that has been decided to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 

The full statement of the BASL is as follows : 

Executive Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) today (June 19) unanimously elected Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva as the party’s Chairman and Duminda Dissanayake as the SLFP General Secretar

Meanwhile MP Duminda Dissanayake had been appointed as the SLFP’s Acting General Secretary by the same faction during a politburo meeting on April 25.

Earlier, the Colombo District Court (DC) has declined to grant an interim order preventing the SLFP Executive Committee, chaired by de Silva, from convening a meeting scheduled for this afternoon.