By Gaurav Sharma

Beijing, Nov 14 (IANS): China on Wednesday said it was closely following the escalating political crisis in Sri Lanka and hoped that the political parties could solve it by themselves.

In the latest development in the island nation, the country's Parliament passed a no-confidence motion against the government headed by the controversially appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The former strongman is perceived to be close to China and awarded many investment deals to Beijing.

"China is traditional friend and neighbour of Sri Lanka. We are closely following the situation unfolding in Sri Lanka," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press briefing.

"We hope Sri Lanka will see stability and believe that parties in that country have full wisdom and capability to deal with the current situation," she said.

The blow to Rajapaksa came a day after the country's Supreme Court overturned President Maithripala Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections in January.

Sirisena surprisingly sacked his unity government partner and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 26 and replaced him with Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe still claims to be the Premier and says he commands a majority in Parliament to hold the office.