On April 7, Premier Wen Jiabao's address was published by major English and Sinhala newspapers in Sri Lanka just before his official visit to the country. Wen pointed out in the address China and Sri Lanka are close neighbors with traditional friendship and over the years the bilateral relations of good neighborliness and cooperation on basis of the five principles of peaceful co-existence have witnessed sound development. China and Sri Lanka enjoy frequent top-level exchanges, productive cooperation in economy and trade and close communication and coordination with each other in international and regional affairs. Sri Lanka was severely hit by the tsunami at the end of last year unfortunately. The Chinese government and people provided timely assistance to Sri Lanka with their utmost capacity as if they were experiencing the disaster themselves. The Chinese side sincerely hopes the assistance of the Chinese people may help the people in the disaster-affected areas recover from the tsunami and rebuild their homes. Wen said the Chinese government values its traditional friendly relations with Sri Lanka and believes with joint efforts the long-term friendly cooperative relations between the two countries will definitely demonstrate new vigor and vitality in the new century.