BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday congratulated Dinesh Gunawardena on assuming office as Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

In his congratulatory message, Wang said China and Sri Lanka have always been treating each other with respect and equality since the establishment of their diplomatic relationship 62 years ago, and have formed a strategic cooperative partnership that features sincerity, mutual assistance and generations of friendship.

The two nations, under the guidance of high-level exchanges and on the platform of the Belt and Road Initiative, have actively expanded their cooperation and seen more frequent people-to-people exchanges, which have yielded fruitful results in recent years, Wang said.

Wang also said that he would like to join efforts with Gunawardena to consolidate the traditional friendship between both countries, enhance communications and cooperation in various fields, and make contributions to better development of China-Sri Lanka relations.