As China's ruling Communist Party turned a century old, Sri Lanka on Wednesday issued two gold and one silver coins to commemorate the occasion and mark 65 years of its ties with Beijing. The move assumes significance as this is first time Sri Lanka has minted coins to honour a political party of another country.
The coins were minted by Sri Lanka’s Central Bank. “The coins have been issued at the request of the government as an accolade for long-standing friendship and mutual trust between the two countries”, the bank stated. The commemorative coins are of rupees 1,000 denominations.
The last time the island-nation minted a gold coin was in 1998 to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
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In 2012, the Central Bank had issued a nickel-plated silver coin to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Japan.
China's ruling Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary on Thursday at Tiananmen Square, with thousands of party workers and school children singing songs praising the party and the country.
Addressing the centenary celebrations, President Xi Jinping called for building a strong military to defend the country and warned that the Chinese people will never allow any foreign force to "bully, oppress, or subjugate them".
Founded by Mao Zedong on July 1, 1921, the CPC formally completed 100 years of existence on Thursday. It also remained in power since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was formed in 1949.
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(With PTI inputs)
