New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) China understands the primacy of Sri Lanka’s relations with India, an advisor to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday.

Speaking at an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation here, Rajiva Wijesinha also hit out at the West for allegedly trying to create a wedge between India and China.

“The efforts to present Sri Lanka as a bone of contention between India and China were largely self-serving for the West,” he said.

“This was also understandable given the manner in which they fought the Cold War,” he added. “But China had made it clear that the primacy of Sri Lanka’s relationship with India was understandable.”

Wijesinha suggested setting up a temporary ministry for the effective implementation of the reconciliation process initiated by Rajapaksa after the end of the protracted war in the island.

He was speaking on ‘Reconciliation, Sri Lanka and the World’.

He said a ministry of reconciliation, with responsibilities to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, should be set up to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

“The ministry should be charged with fulfilling the recommendations of the commission as best as possible and be given a limited life span, of two years perhaps, after which it should be made redundant.”