Premier Li Qiang will begin an official visit to Thailand on Friday and then attend the 29th China-ASEAN Summit in the Philippines, a trip expected to provide greater stability and certainty for regional cooperation and development.
Li's three-day visit to Thailand will be the latest high-level engagement between the leaders of the two countries, following Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's visit to China in July.
Through the visit, China looks forward to working with Thailand to carry forward their traditional friendship, strengthen strategic communication and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a daily news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
The two sides will also strive to make further progress in building a China-Thailand community with a shared future, support their respective modernization efforts, and contribute to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region, he added.
Thailand's Government Public Relations Department said on Wednesday that Li's visit also aims to strengthen cooperation in combating cross-border crime and promote investment in emerging industries, including electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, clean energy, semiconductors, cloud computing and space technology.
"Both sides are committed to continuing to boost bilateral trade by expanding market access and promoting high-quality and responsible investment that takes into account the participation of local businesses, environmental best practices, and compliance with local laws and regulations," the department said.
China is Thailand's largest trading partner, while Thailand is one of China's major trading partners among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Bilateral trade reached $153.26 billion in 2025, up 14.4 percent year-on-year, according to China's Foreign Ministry.
Regarding broader China-ASEAN cooperation, Guo said that China looks to work with ASEAN countries at the upcoming leaders' meeting to strengthen solidarity and mutual trust, build consensus on cooperation, and bring the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol into force as early as possible.
Liu Wen, an associate professor at Nanning Normal University in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a major hub for China-ASEAN cooperation, said the China-ASEAN Summit provides a key platform for dialogue and cooperation, helping to build consensus and translate it into action.
Against the backdrop of growing global uncertainty, regular high-level regional dialogue has become particularly important, as it not only conveys confidence in China-ASEAN cooperation but also points the way toward deeper regional economic cooperation, she said.
Gu Jiayun, director of the Centre for Cambodian Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the early implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol would broaden the scope of regional cooperation, improve its efficiency and strengthen its resilience, injecting fresh momentum into the regional economy and unlocking the market potential of both sides.
The protocol's provisions on aligning rules and standards would help countries to facilitate trade, improve customs clearance processes, reduce investment costs and lower technical barriers, bringing tangible benefits to businesses, Gu said.
Taking Cambodia as an example, he said that the upgrade protocol's digital economy provisions would give local agricultural processors and handicraft producers more accessible channels to the Chinese market, enabling them to reach Chinese consumers directly through digital platforms.
jihaisheng@chinadaily.com.cn
