BEIJING, March 26 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called Thursday on Sri Lanka to protect the legitimate interests of Chinese companies, expressing willingness to deepen cooperation in trade and infrastructure with the South Asian country.

Xi made the remarks during talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who is paying a state visit to China and to attend the 2015 Boao Forum for Asia.

"China's cooperation with Sri Lanka is based on mutual benefit and a win-win situation, without any political pre-conditions," Xi said, adding that China wishes to help Sri Lanka sustain its development and bring benefit to Sri Lankan people.

Sirisena said the current situation with the China-funded port project in Colombo is temporary and in a short term as the problems do not lie with China. He said his country welcomes more investment from China, promising a healthy investment climate in his country.

The 1.4 billion-U.S. dollar port city project was part of a deal reached between China and Sri Lanka under the former Sri Lankan government. The new government, which took office in January, decided to re-examine it.