Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 19, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Saturday agreed to build a more stable, prosperous and sustainable China-Thailand community with a shared future during their meeting in Bangkok.
Observers saw the vision of building a China-Thailand community with a shared future as a crucial breakthrough that further enhanced already sound bilateral relations to a new, strategic height. With the course clearly charted, concrete cooperation centered on the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), on new areas such as the digital economy, is bound to boom.

During his meeting with Prayut, Xi congratulated Thailand on its success in hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, stressing the thousand-year-old friendship between China and Thailand and the fraternity between the two peoples, Xinhua reported.

Standing at a new historical starting point, Xi said, China is willing to carry forward the special friendship between China and Thailand, which are "as close as one family," add new meaning to the friendship, open up a new era of bilateral ties and bring more benefits to their people.

Prayut, for his part, extended warm congratulations on the success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and noted the importance of Xi's attendance at APEC, and his visit to Thailand, the first since he became Chinese president, which is of great significance, Prayut said.

Thailand supports the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative proposed by Xi and supports China in playing a bigger role in regional and international affairs, Prayut added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is warmly received by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha upon his arrival at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 19, 2022. Xi on Saturday held talks with Prayut. Photo:Xinhua

Xi and Prayut also witnessed the signing of a bilateral strategic cooperation joint action plan (2022-26) and a plan for jointly advancing the building of the BRI, among other cooperation documents focused on trade and investment, e-commerce and technological innovation.

Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, citing mutual support on core interests, military and non-traditional security cooperation, robust trade ties and active culture exchanges, noted the building of a China-Thailand community with a shared future was a crucial breakthrough in bilateral relations.

Charting such a course for bilateral relations suggested that the two countries share very similar strategic goals, have a high-level of mutual trust and share similar views on many issues related to domestic growth, regional and global prosperity, experts noted.

Ge Hongliang, director of the China-ASEAN Maritime Security Research Center at Guangxi University for Nationalities, told the Global Times that such a goal on a strategic level indicated that relations between China and many ASEAN members, and with the bloc as whole, have undergone major changes.

President Xi said during the meeting with Prayut that China is ready to strengthen unity and cooperation with Thailand and other countries of the ASEAN, focusing on building a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home together, to continuously unleash new growth drivers for the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership.

Noting that Thailand will soon take over as co-chair of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, Xi said China is willing to work with Mekong countries to promote high-quality sub-regional cooperation.

Many people perceive the relations from the perspective of economics and trade, seeing the volume expanding. But there are more levels in the relations - a strategic interaction at a political level, Ge said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 19, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

China and Thailand are not only engaged in defense equipment cooperation, holding joint drills, but also conducting more and more dialogue on security and global issues, experts said, noting that bilateral relations are playing a part in setting the trend of China-ASEAN relations.

Based on strategic trust, cooperation has made great and concrete progress and bears bright prospects, Xu said.

Xu mentioned the linking of China-Laos railway further to Thailand, which will boost trade of agricultural products with Thailand and joint law enforcement against telecom fraud and online gambling, which hold significant potential for further cooperation.

There is a massive potential for further cooperation in areas ranging from manufacturing to green development to the digital economy, some Thai businesses told the Global Times on the sidelines of the APEC leaders' meeting in Bangkok.

Thailand's Amata Group is a company that specializes in building industrial parks not just in Thailand but also the Greater Mekong Subregion, and the company has worked with various Chinese companies over the years on projects like the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone.

"What we can tell is that we are the pioneer to bring the Chinese investment into Thailand," Toshio Ishikawa, senior development manager of marketing sales at Amata, told the Global Times, adding that over 140 Chinese factories have established operations at the Rayong industrial zone and as the trend for renewable energy and sustainable development takes shape, the company is also seeking to attract Chinese and other businesses in the area.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 19, 2022. Photo:Xinhua