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Chinese Ambassador Meets Thai PM Anutin, Both Sides Agree to Deepen Economic Cooperation
Reporter 欧亚时报编辑部
According to a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on September 17, Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Zhang Jianwei recently called on Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and the two held in-depth discussions on deepening economic cooperation between the two countries. In its readout, the Chinese Embassy said Beijing appreciates the efforts the Thai government has recently made to boost its domestic economy, and stressed that China will continue to support Thailand's economic development and is willing to work with Thailand to further deepen bilateral economic cooperation.
Public records show Zhang Jianwei formally took office as China's Ambassador to Thailand in July 2025, after a long career in China's diplomatic service. Thailand's current prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, is the country's 32nd prime minister; his Bhumjaithai Party formed the governing coalition after taking office in September 2025. Anutin previously served for a long period as deputy prime minister and interior minister, and is regarded as one of the Thai political figures with relatively close ties to China. The two sides have maintained frequent contact at various levels and occasions this year, and this latest call continues the positive momentum of recent high-level exchanges between the two countries.
In July this year, Anutin paid an official visit to China — his first official visit to the country since taking office as prime minister — traveling to Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing, where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and other Chinese leaders. During the visit, the two sides signed 15 cooperation documents covering trade, technology, agriculture and other fields, and Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) opened a new office in Chengdu to further attract Chinese investment into Thailand. The joint statement issued after the visit called for building a "China-Thailand community with a shared prosperous future." Anutin has said on multiple occasions that Thailand hopes to attract more innovative, technologically advanced Chinese companies to invest and help upgrade its industries, while also hoping Thai companies gain greater access to the Chinese market for mutual benefit — rather than Thailand serving merely as a market or manufacturing base for Chinese products.
Also in July, the "Thailand-China Cooperation Expo 2026" was held at the IMPACT Muang Thong Thani exhibition center in Bangkok, under the theme "Investing for the Future, Growing Together," with Anutin himself chairing the opening ceremony. At related events during the expo, Ambassador Zhang Jianwei laid out a three-point approach to deepening China-Thailand economic and trade ties, calling for deeper integration of industrial and supply chains, faster progress on major connectivity projects such as the Thailand-China Railway and the China-Laos-Thailand rail network, and expanding cooperation further into emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, aerospace and clean energy, while encouraging Thai businesses to actively tap into the market opportunities created by China's high-quality development.
On trade figures, Chinese customs data show bilateral trade between China and Thailand reached US$153.26 billion in 2025, up 14.4% year-on-year, with China's exports to Thailand at US$103.5 billion (up 20.3%) and imports from Thailand at US$49.76 billion (up 3.9%). Thai exports of agricultural products such as fruit and natural rubber to China have exceeded US$9 billion, with Thai fruit exports to China reaching US$4.024 billion in the first half of 2026 alone, up 16.3% year-on-year. Agricultural trade cooperation between the two countries has continued to grow, becoming one of the highlights of the bilateral economic relationship.
Domestically, the Anutin government has recently made economic diplomacy one of its policy priorities. On September 4, Anutin met with ambassadors, consuls-general and representatives of international organizations from 76 countries at Government House, organizing the discussions into nine regional groups in an effort to translate bilateral relationships into concrete trade and investment outcomes. Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand has raised its 2026 GDP growth forecast from 1.5% to 2.3%, citing strong export performance, continued government stimulus measures, and easing regional geopolitical tensions. Analysts say China's appreciation, expressed during the ambassador's call, for the Thai government's efforts to boost its domestic economy should be understood against this backdrop.
On connectivity and investment, the second phase of the Thailand-China Railway is entering full-scale construction in 2026, with supporting road and logistics-park projects reported to involve more than US$5 billion in investment. Chinese companies have also continued to expand their investment footprint in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in recent years, with new energy vehicles emerging as a key area of bilateral cooperation. Analysts say the progress of these concrete projects forms the real-world basis for describing China-Thailand economic cooperation as having achieved "notable results," and provides important context for the economic cooperation topics discussed when the ambassador called on the prime minister.
In addition, coordination between China and Thailand on finance and industrial investment has continued to deepen in recent years. In May this year, Ambassador Zhang Jianwei called on Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, and the two sides exchanged views on deepening cooperation in the economic and financial fields; Zhang said investment cooperation is an important part of China-Thailand friendship, noting that the two countries' economic development philosophies align well and that there is broad room for trade and economic cooperation. That same month, Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong also met with Anutin, reaffirming the company's long-term investment commitment to being "in Thailand, for Thailand" — another example of Chinese new-energy vehicle makers deepening their presence in the Thai market.
Notably, this was not the first meeting between Zhang Jianwei and Anutin this year. In January, the two exchanged views over a crane collapse accident at a Thailand-China Railway construction site; that same month, Zhang, on behalf of the Chinese government, also handed over 20 million yuan worth of humanitarian relief supplies to Thai people affected by the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict. High-level contacts between the two countries have remained fairly frequent over the past year, seen as a concrete reflection of continued warming in China-Thailand relations.
As of now, the readout published by the Chinese Embassy in Thailand has not disclosed further details about specific cooperation projects or numerical targets discussed during this particular meeting. Analysts say that as construction of the Thailand-China Railway progresses, follow-up projects from the Thailand-China Cooperation Expo are implemented, and bilateral economic and trade cooperation continues to deepen, interaction between the two sides in the economic sphere is expected to remain active, with concrete outcomes to be announced by both governments in due course.
