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Chinas ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, is leaving the island after nearly six years, marking his departure with an effusive farewell hailing an "everlasting friendship" between the two countries, in a tenure that saw Beijing deepen its economic and strategic grip on the island even as the scale of Colombos debt to China, and Beijings role in shielding it from accountability, drew mounting scrutiny.
In a lengthy valedictory message, Qi cast the relationship in a succession of Sri Lankan metaphors, likening it to the Sacred Bodhi Tree, C
