Warily watching the political crisis in Sri Lanka where it has billions of dollars of investments, China on Thursday kept mum over the fall of the Rajapaksa brothers who promoted its expansive infrastructure projects in the island nation. Asked for China’s comment on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country amid public protests demanding his resignation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated Beijing’s call for all parties in Sri Lanka to work together to revitalise the economy.

“As a friend, neighbour, and cooperation partner, China sincerely hopes that all sectors in Sri Lanka could bear in mind the fundamental interests of their country and people and work together in solidarity to overcome the current difficulties and strive to restore stability, revitalise the economy and improve people’s livelihoods at an early date,” Wang said.

The Chinese foreign ministry had a similar response when Gotabaya’s elder brother Mahinda resigned as the Prime Minister under intense public protests in May.

To a question, on whether China has any plan to provide new financial assistance to SriLanka, whose economy has completely collapsed, Wangrestated Beijing’s oft-repeated stand that “China stands ready to work with countries and international financial institutions to continue to play a positive role in supporting SriLanka’s response to current difficulties and efforts to ease debt burden and realise sustainable development”.