Beijing, Bangkok to forge closer relations

China and Thailand signed on Monday multiple cooperation documents in the fields of trade, agriculture, customs, science and technology, artificial intelligence education, aviation and aerospace, intellectual property, media, and combating transnational crimes, as part of their efforts to enhance bilateral ties.

Premier Li Qiang and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul witnessed the signing of the agreements following their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Anutin made an official visit to China from Thursday to Monday. Beijing was the last stop of his five-day tour, which also took him to Shanghai municipality and Chengdu in Sichuan province.

In Shanghai, he attended the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance. In Chengdu, Anutin attended the Thailand-China (Sichuan) Investment and Economic Forum. The Thai prime minister is also reported to have had meetings with senior executives from major Chinese companies, including Xiaomi and Changan Automobile.

During the talks, Li hailed the long-standing traditional friendship between China and Thailand, and said that the nation has always placed Thailand in an important position in its neighborhood diplomacy and firmly supports the smooth governance of the new Thai government.

China is willing to further promote traditional friendship with Thailand, consolidate political mutual trust, firmly support each other and take mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields to new heights, continuously improving the well-being of the two peoples, he said.

The premier expressed China's willingness to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Thailand, promote high-quality development of Belt and Road cooperation and accelerate the implementation of key projects such as the China-Thailand railway.

He underlined the need for both countries to enhance the facilitation of cross-border payments and local currency settlements, maintain the momentum for the growth in bilateral trade, deepen industrial integration and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as AI, new energy vehicles and clean energy, working together to promote common prosperity.

Li also called for enhancing law enforcement and security cooperation to resolutely combat cross-border crimes such as online gambling and telecom fraud.

Noting that unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the premier called on both countries, as practitioners and beneficiaries of open cooperation, to strengthen coordination in multilateral mechanisms, such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations cooperation, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of both countries and defend international fairness and justice.

Anutin commended the development of the family-like relationship between Thailand and China, saying that Thailand firmly adheres to the one-China policy and will never support any "Taiwan independence" activities.

Thailand is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with China, make good use of dialogue mechanisms in various sectors, promote cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, mutual connectivity, AI and electric vehicles, and deepen tourism and local exchanges, he said.

Anutin expressed Thailand's commitment to a more vigorous crackdown on cross-border crimes, such as online gambling and telecom fraud, and creating a safe and sound environment for Chinese tourists and enterprises in the country.

Thailand welcomes the four global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping and is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China within multilateral frameworks to jointly promote regional and global peace, stability and prosperity, he said.

The four global initiatives refer to the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative.

During the visit, the two countries issued the joint statement on building a China-Thailand community with a shared future for enhanced prosperity.