On 2-5 November 2019, H.E. Mr. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, attended the 35th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits and paid an official visit to Thailand as Guest of the Royal Thai Government. He last paid an official visit to Thailand six years ago. The objective of this visit was to strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership between Thailand and China and set the direction for the future course of relations based on mutual interest amidst the uncertainties in the international economic and political situation.  

 

On 5 November 2019, the Premier of the State Council of the PRC had a plenary meeting with the Prime Minister of Thailand at the Government House. Both sides were pleased with the close and growing relations between Thailand and China in all dimensions. Both sides recognized the prominence of the economic dimension in the bilateral relations and are determined to promote linkages between the “Connecting the Connectivities” strategy initiated by Thailand during its ASEAN Chairmanship and China’s Belt and Road Initiative with a view to further expanding these linkages with other sub-regional cooperation frameworks. Both sides also agreed to promote linkages between the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and work towards concrete outcome through the establishment of a high-level mechanism. Both sides agreed to continue negotiations on the contract of Phase One of the Thai-China high-speed railway project and supported the Thai-China-Japan trilateral cooperation on the high speed rail link linking the three airports with the EEC as a model for similar cooperation in other parts of Thailand and the region. In addition, both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in science, technology and innovation to support the Thailand 4.0 policy. Furthermore, the Chinese side expressed its readiness to exchange experiences in poverty eradication and in importing more agricultural products from Thailand, especially rice using e-commerce platforms.

 

​Both sides agreed to working together to promote economic growth at sub-regional and regional levels through ASEAN-China cooperation, Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC), and Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), of which China has joined as the first batch of development partner. Both welcomed the fact that the related parties have concluded the text-basead negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and would work together on outstanding issues with a view to signing the agreement in 2020. Both sides also expressed their support for the effective and full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and for the effective and substantive completion of the Code of Conduct (CoC) negotiation within 2021 or earlier.

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After the meeting, both Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of 3 documents: (1) Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Scientific, Technical and Innovative Cooperation between the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China; (2) Memorandum of Understanding between the Public Relations Department of the Kingdom of Thailand and Xinhua News Agency of the People’s Republic of China and; (3) Memorandum of Understanding between the Siam Cement Public Company Limited and Chinese Academy of Sciences Innovation Cooperation Center (Bangkok).

 

​During this visit, the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China also paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Chuan Leekpai, President of the National Assembly and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand, who conveyed an invitation to the high-level officials of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to visit Thailand to further strenghthen relations between the two legislatives bodies.