Xi Jinping met with Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn

BEIJING - On November 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a ceremony to welcome visiting Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn to China. On the morning of Nov. 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn at the People's Palace in Beijing.

Xi Jinping said King Maha Vajiralongkorn chose China as the first major country for his state visit, making him the first Thai king to visit China since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. This decision fully reflects the high importance attached by the Thai side to Sino-Thai relations and the deep bond of „Sino-Thai brotherhood“. Xi Jinping also expressed his condolences on the recent death of Queen Mother Sirikit and stressed that the Thai royal family has deep historical ties with China and has made significant contributions to the promotion of Sino-Thai friendship, for which China expresses its deep appreciation.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand and the „Golden 50 Years of Sino-Thai Friendship“. In the past half century since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have faced a changing international situation, but have always stood side by side, helped each other and been true close relatives, good friends and partners. At this new historic beginning, I am ready to join hands with King Maha Vajiralongkorn to guide the construction of the Sino-Thai community with a shared future to achieve greater progress in the next 50 years and to write a new chapter of Sino-Thai friendship together.

Xi Jinping further said that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the draft 15th Five-Year Plan, which will focus on promoting high-quality development and expanding the high level of opening-up. Thailand is also at a crucial stage of national development and recovery. China is ready to strengthen strategic linkages with the Thai side, steadily advance cooperation projects such as the China-Thailand railway, expand imports of high-quality Thai agricultural products, and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy and aerospace, so that both countries can gain more tangible benefits from China-Thailand cooperation. Cultural exchanges between the two countries should be promoted and people-to-people contacts should be encouraged to bring the people of the two countries ever closer together. China is willing to actively support the Thai royal family's public interest projects, strengthen the exchange of experience in poverty alleviation and help Thailand improve people's living conditions.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn expressed his happiness at visiting China during a state visit. He returned to China again after many years and found that the country has undergone tremendous changes that have revealed a new face of modern and beautiful China. He congratulated China on achieving significant successes in economic and social development. Thailand and China are close friends whose people maintain close contacts and mutually beneficial cooperation is wide and deep. Sino-Thai cooperation is cooperation between brothers. The Thai side wishes to actively draw experience from China's development, expand cooperation with China in all fields, strengthen people-to-people contacts and deepen Sino-Thai friendship in the minds of the people.

CMG