China investment benefits Sri Lanka

Minister of external affairs says his country is safe and welcomes bigger Chinese presence

Beijing - China's involvement in the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka is purely commercial and non-competitive and that there is no need for other nations to feel threatened, said a Sri Lankan official on Thursday.

"The first ship will arrive at the Hambantota port on November 19, as the port will be ready to receive large vessels by then," Gamini Peiris, Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs, told China Daily during an exclusive interview in Beijing.